THE West must hit Vladimir Putin with Cold War-style threats of Armageddon if it wants to stop Russia using nukes, Ukraine's foreign minister said today.
Dymtro Kuleba was speaking as Putin continues to make nuclear threats against the West, including ordering Iskander nuclear capable missiles to be deployed to Belarus earlier this week.
The deployment puts the missiles within range of Kyiv as well as the Nato capital cities of Warsaw and Vilnius.
Throughout the war in Ukraine, Putin has engaged in nuclear sabre rattling in a bid to warn the West off increasing military aid to Kyiv.
In the most direct threat, he said Russia “will use all the means at our disposal” to defend itself adding “this is not a bluff” as he announced a mass mobilisation.
Nuclear bombers including the Tu-95 Bear and Tu-160 are regularly filmed carrying out drills while Russia frequently boasts about the prowess of its Satan-2 nuclear missile.
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Kuleba spoke about Russian aggression in a debate at the Chatham House foreign policy think-tank today.
The Sun Online asked if he thought Putin would use nuclear weapons on his country and what the response should be to his threats.
He said: “Russia is using nuclear (weapons) to sow fear and to press others into concessions so don’t help them to do that.
“The nuclear deterrence strategy of the West against the Soviet Union proved to be pretty successful.
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“So why do you think you can be less successful this time?”
During the Cold War, Western allies pursued a doctrine of "mutually assured destruction", known as MAD.
It was the founding principle of nuclear deterrence – a guarantee thatany strike by the USSR would be met with total annihilation.
The same applied in reverse, and the theory was that no one would be mad enough to start a nuclear war knowing the inevitable consequences.
Kuleba said he hopes "nuclear weapons will remain just a bargaining chip and not a reality".
And he added: “Nothing should stop us from doing the right thing, which is restoring Ukraine’s territorial integrity within its internationally recognised borders.”
Kuleba also said that Putin’s deployment of tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus had gone against the wishes of China’s President Xi Jinping after the pair met in Moscow.
He said: “The announcement of tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus might be considered as an indicator that this conversation did not go well for him (Xi).
“The issue of nuclear security is of utmost importance for China and when Putin made his statement about Belarus it’s definitely something that doesn’t correspond to Chinese policy in the nuclear sphere.”
Nato has stopped short of directly threatening nuke-for-nuke retaliation for a Russian strike in Ukraine.
In September, US national security adviser Jake Sullivan warned any use of nukes would have “catastrophic consequences for Russia”, and said that had been “spelled out” in private conversations.
Polish foreign minister Zbigniew Rau said Nato’s response to any use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine should be “devastating” but non-nuclear.
He said on a trip to Washington: “To the best of our knowledge, Putin is threatening to use tactical nuclear weapons on Ukrainian soil, not to attack Nato, which means that Nato should respond in a conventional way.”
Kuleba's comments today come in the wake of Chatham House report which said Putin could still use nuclear weapons in Ukraine in a final act of destruction.
The report’s author, leading Russia expert Keir Giles, says Russia’s constant nuclear intimidation has so far delivered success.
But he says that while the chances of Putin actually using weapons remains slim – or “non-zero” as he puts it, as they cannot be completely excluded.
Giles outlines the circumstances in which Russia could use nuclear weapons in Ukraine in his report.
He says: "A nuclear strike could be ordered if there is no longer any possibility of claiming conventional victory and a powerful destructive attack on Ukraine is perceived as the only means of avoiding admission of a clear defeat.
“One or more nuclear strikes could form part of a scorched earth response intended simply to cause misery and destruction in Ukraine in recognition of Russian failure to conquer it.”
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