The West in turn shows its muscles. Any nuclear attack by Russia against Ukraine will lead to a military response from the West “so powerful that the Russian army will be annihilated”, said Thursday the head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell.
Russian President Vladimir “Putin says he’s not bluffing with the nuclear threat. He must then understand that the countries which support Ukraine, the European Union and its member states, the United States and NATO, are not bluffing either. Any nuclear attack on Ukraine will lead to a response, not a nuclear response, but a military response so powerful that the Russian army will be annihilated,” he told the College of Europe in Bruges.
Moscow’s threats are taken very seriously by the members of the Atlantic Alliance. “President Putin’s veiled nuclear threats are dangerous and irresponsible,” Alliance Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg of Norway ruled on Tuesday before a meeting of NATO defense ministers. “Russia knows that a nuclear war cannot be won and should never be fought,” he warned.
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“We closely monitor Russian nuclear forces. We have seen no change in Russia’s position. But we remain vigilant, ”he said, however. “We have no indication at this time that Russia has changed its nuclear posture, but we are monitoring it 24 hours a day, 7 days a week,” US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin confirmed on Wednesday.
Russian military doctrine provides for the possibility of nuclear strikes if Russian territory is attacked. The former president and number two of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev assured that Moscow would defend the new annexed territories “including with strategic nuclear weapons”. However, kyiv forces are approaching the recently annexed region of Kherson (south), leading the pro-Russian authorities to ask Moscow on Thursday to evacuate civilians.
No nuclear response
“Any use of nuclear weapons, even a small weapon, will have consequences and Russia knows it,” said Jens Stoltenberg. But “the circumstances in which NATO could have to use nuclear weapons are extremely remote”, specified the Secretary General of NATO. “In the event of an attack against NATO allies, Article 5 will of course be triggered. But as far as Ukraine is concerned, NATO is not a party to the conflict,” he explained, implicitly ruling out the allies’ recourse to nuclear weapons for their response. “Nato’s nuclear deterrent aims to deter any attack against the allies,” he insisted.
The President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron also made more measured comments on Twitter this Thursday, ensuring that he did not want to create “a world war”. “We are helping Ukraine to resist on its soil, never to attack Russia,” he assured, calling on Vladimir Putin to “respect the territorial integrity of Ukraine”.