“Putin no longer scares anyone”
The Kremlin leader's nuclear threats no longer intimidate anyone, at least that's what Russian analysts think.
A Russian official, who wished to remain anonymous and was quoted in the Washington Post, explains that "immunity against such statements has already developed and they don't scare anyone," an observation that highlights the limits of Putin's strategy, while he has been constantly brandishing the nuclear threat since the beginning of his "special operation." If his goal was to make the West shudder, which he accused of crossing the red line (delivering weapons, tanks, long-range missiles to the enemy, etc.), it seems that it has not been achieved. A Russian scientist clarified: "It's understood that the red lines drawn by Moscow are ignored by the West and that more significant measures must be taken by Moscow to demonstrate the seriousness of its intentions."
According to one Russian analyst, the nuclear response scenario is the least likely, for two reasons: this decision would "annoy Russia's partners in the South," and would have a certain political impact for Moscow, and it would have "low military effectiveness." Tatiana Stanovaya, founder of the French political consultancy R.Politik, supports these arguments. According to her, the use of nuclear weapons would be the worst option for all parties in the conflict, including the Russian president. Tatiana Stanovaya also believes that the West should be even more aggressive in order to incite Putin to such extremes.
According to other Russian experts, Moscow should "step things up" and attack, for example, air bases in Poland or Romania, which store F-16 aircraft delivered to Ukraine. As for the professor of military studies at King's College London, Lawrence Friedman, the Kremlin could consider alternatives to nuclear power and opt for "sabotage operations against military targets or other infrastructure in the West".
All conclude in the same way, the threats of the Russian president were "deliberately ambiguous", leaving room for interpretation... And, in general, humans tend to interpret the worst.
(MH with Manon Pierre - Source: L’Indépendant - Picture: by Kremlin.ru via Wikicommons under license Creative commons CC-BY-4.0)