JRL NEWSWATCH: “Ukraine war drives shift in Russian nuclear thinking – study” – Reuters
- “Non-strategic nuclear arms have range to hit Europe not U.S.
- Moscow increasingly relies on NSNWs to deter NATO -report
- Russia sees lack of Western will to use own nuclear arms”
“The war in Ukraine [reportedly] has dented Russia’s confidence in its conventional forces and increased the importance to Moscow of non-strategic nuclear weapons (NSNWs) as a means of deterring and defeating NATO in a potential future conflict …. Moscow denies wielding nuclear threats but several … Putin[] statements since the onset of the war in Ukraine have been interpreted as such in the West …. Western analysts and policymakers have been closely tracking a debate among Russian military experts about whether Moscow should lower its threshold for nuclear use. ….”