What are strategic nuclear weapons and will Putin use them?

Experts say that the risk in Ukraine is not the deployment of a huge “strategic” weapon, but a “tactical” weapon with a smaller one that causes local devastation.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has increased the threat of something considered almost unimaginable until recently: the use of a small nuclear weapon during conflict in Europe.
AFP sees the risk that Russian President Vladimir Putin will authorize a so-called “tactical” nuclear attack against a country he has repeatedly claimed is “one people” with Russia.

Why worry?

On February 27, three days after the start of the offensive, Putin ordered his defense chiefs to put Russia’s nuclear forces on high alert in a highly choreographed meeting in front of TV cameras.

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Western countries immediately condemned the move, with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken calling it “provocative” and “the height of irresponsibility”.

Most Western analysts agree that the rhetoric was designed to deter the United States and its allies from expanding their support for Ukraine beyond existing economic sanctions and arms supplies.

“This is not only to create fear all over the world, but to intimidate anyone from helping Ukraine,” Beatrice Finn, who leads the international campaign to eliminate nuclear weapons, told AFP.

How big is Russia’s nuclear arsenal?

According to the SIPRI Peace Research Institute in Stockholm, Russia has the most nuclear weapons of any country, which puts the figure at 6,255.

Experts say that the risk in Ukraine is not the deployment of a huge “strategic” weapon, which poses a threat to the entire planet.

Instead, Putin may be tempted to use a “tactical” weapon, which consists of a small warhead that causes local devastation but without endangering lives across Europe.

Also Read:- Five reasons why Russia is stuck in Ukraine: Report 24Mar 2022

These weapons come in a variety of sizes, and their effectiveness depends on whether they explode at ground level or above the Earth’s surface.

US President Joe Biden also claimed this week that Moscow was considering the use of chemical and biological weapons in Ukraine.

“Chemical weapons won’t change the course of war. A tactical nuclear weapon that turns a Ukrainian city into rubble? Yes,” Mathieu Boulegue, an analyst at London-based Chatham House, told AFP.

Aren’t nuclear weapons a last resort?

Yes, but Ukraine and Western capitals fear Putin finds himself besieged, sustaining major losses on the battlefield and economic problems at home that cast his political existence in doubt.

A tactical nuclear attack would aim to break the resistance of the Ukrainian military and force President Volodymyr Zelensky to surrender.

Also Read:- Why Mariupol is important to Russia in the Ukrainian war?

Pavel Luzhin, an expert at Russia-focused think-tank Riddle, said the first step would be seen as an act of intimidation to a tactical weapon used at sea or in uninhabited areas.

“After that, if the adversary still wants to fight, it can be used against the adversary in a direct way,” he said – meaning on a city.

Christopher Chiwes, who served as the top US intelligence officer for Europe from 2018 to 2021, said recently that there were “only two ways” to end the war.

“One, continued escalation, potentially across the nuclear border; second, a bitter peace imposed on a defeated Ukraine,” he wrote in The Guardian newspaper.

What does the Kremlin say?

On Tuesday, Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov was asked three times by CNN interviewer Kristian Amanpour to deny the use of nuclear weapons.

Also Read:- China backs down in international diplomacy on Ukraine: Report 23Mar 2022

He instead pointed to Russia’s nuclear doctrine, published in 2020, in which “you can read all the reasons for the use of nuclear weapons.”

“If it threatens the very existence of our country, it can be used according to our concept,” Peskov said.

The Kremlin’s recent claims about Ukraine developing chemical, biological or even nuclear weapons – dismissed as misinformation by Western officials – are cause for concern.

“The use of a weapon of mass destruction against Russia would be a theoretical justification for responding with a nuclear weapon,” said Kristin van Broussgaard, an expert on Russia’s nuclear theory at the University of Oslo.

Is it just alarmism?

Also Read:- Russia has not been able to achieve its goals in Ukraine: Report 23Mar 2022

Possibly. William Alberk, an expert on arms control at the British think-tank International Institute for Strategic Studies, told AFP he doubted Putin would deploy strategic nuclear weapons.

“The political cost of using nuclear weapons would be outrageous. He would still lose a little bit of the support he had. The Indians would have to get out. The Chinese too,” he said.

Wayne Broussgard suggested that Putin’s concern about his place in history may be deterring him.

They would need approval from either Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu or Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov to launch one.

“The military consequences would be unpredictable, to say the least and potentially extremely dangerous for Russia, as NATO or the United States felt obligated to enter the conflict directly,” it said.

What are strategic nuclear weapons and will Putin use them?

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(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by News East India staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)