JRL NEWSWATCH: “Does Putin’s Gamble Make Russia’s War in Ukraine More Dangerous?” – Council on Foreign Relations
“… The sham, hastily organized referenda in … Luhansk and Donetsk … of the Donbas … and occupied territories of … Kherson and Zaporizhzhia … will inevitably lead to their annexation by Russia …. Although no major country is likely to recognize the annexations … as far as the Kremlin is concerned[] [t]hat provides a legal basis in the Russian system for greater efforts to defend them …. The partial mobilization … [to] call up … three hundred thousand reservists in coming weeks, is intended to fill the manpower gap left by … massive casualties …. [and] is … an indication … Russia is planning for a prolonged fight. It will likely take weeks to retrain the reservists and organize them into units …. [T]he Kremlin hopes … nuclear saber-rattling will deter the West from providing [Ukraine] ever more sophisticated weapons in ever greater numbers … and raise the specter of a nuclear response should Ukraine press too hard militarily in the soon-to-be-annexed regions that the Kremlin will then consider inalienable Russian territory. Russia’s nuclear doctrine clearly allows for the use of such weapons should Russian territory come under … attack. …”