The Russian media is obsessed with western reactions to Putin’s nuclear rhetoric.
The outgoing Biden administration recently reversed a ban on Ukraine’s use of long-range missiles to strike targets inside Russia. The ban had been imposed by the White House and observed by Washington’s allies out of fear that Russia could escalate the conflict to involve nuclear weapons .
UK and US stories that amplified Putin’s threats were covered in detail in gloating Russian media reports. Reporting a story in the Guardian that suggested Putin was directly threatening London and Washington, the host of the 60 Minutes programme on the Russia 1 television channel commented that “they understand us correctly”.
But Russia has neither the capability nor the appetite for direct military confrontation with Nato. That’s a confrontation that it would lose if it were conventional, while everyone – including Russia – would lose it if it went nuclear. So the Kremlin relies on other tools to try to limit support for Ukraine, weaken western states and fracture western societies. These include the sabotage of critical infrastructure and interference in its rivals’ domestic politics.
This is what we can see happening now. The release of Russia’s new nuclear doctrine, Putin’s nuclear threats, and the amplification of western media alarm is intended to cause UK and other western decision-makers to rethink support for Ukraine because of public concerns. This has been evident since the start of the war. But it sharply increased once the Biden administration decided to call Putin’s nuclear bluff and allow long-range missile strikes against Russia.
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