JRL NEWSWATCH: “What We Learned From Recent Calls for a Russian Nuclear Attack” – Carnegie Endowment for International Peac
“The recent public discussion in Russia on using nuclear weapons against the West was really a discussion about how Moscow can extricate itself from the difficult situation in which it finds itself—and what price it is willing to pay for a victory.”
“Does Russia have the right to carry out a nuclear first strike, and has the time come to launch one? These questions have been the subject of recent public discussion in Russia — unprecedented in tone and content — right up to the level of … Putin. The world has learned nothing new about Russia’s nuclear arsenal, the conditions Moscow sees as necessary for going nuclear, or the chances of this happening. … Advocates of a nuclear first strike … have not only failed to scare their foreign opponents, but, as the recent discussion illustrates, have not even succeeded in winning over their colleagues. Ordinary Russians are likely similarly opposed: a recent [Levada Center] survey … revealed … 86 percent of Russians believe nuclear weapons should not be used in Ukraine under any circumstances. … [N]one of this guarantees that nuclear weapons will not be used. That decision will be taken by one person: [Putin][,] … advised by … people [who] do[] not include the experts … in the recent discussion. We can only hope that the consensus of Russia’s expert community and the views of ordinary people count for something.”