An ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin has boasted that his call to scare the West with nuclear weapon strikes has caused the world to take Moscow more seriously.
Sergei Karaganov, a former presidential adviser and honorary chairman of Moscow’s main foreign policy think tank, the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, caused a stir with an article in June calling for nuclear measures aimed at foreign targets “to trap those who have lost their minds in the face of reason.
His piece titled “A difficult but necessary decision” described how a clash between Moscow and the West would not end with Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and that “God handed a weapon of Armageddon to humanity to remind those who had lost the fear of hell that it existed.”
But that concern has been lost and “needs to be rekindled,” as he writes that Russia will have to “build a strategy of intimidation and deterrence and even use nuclear weapons. “This would reduce the threat of nuclear retaliation and called on Moscow to “quickly climb the ladder of deterrence and escalation,” he added.
His comments were widely reported amid repeated rhetoric peddled by Kremlin propagandists about strikes on Kyiv’s allies and the specter that has hung over the war that Putin, whom Karaganov is close to, would resort to non-conventional weapons.
In an interview published Wednesday, Karaganov was asked about the reaction that his views had caused, which included a letter from his colleagues at the Council for Foreign and Defense Policy branding his views “the height of irresponsibility.”
Karaganov told Russian news outlet the Daily Storm his views had helped strengthen nuclear deterrence, and said that “I am very pleased that I initiated this discussion about nuclear weapons.”
“I talk a lot about lowering the nuclear threshold to convince our partners that they are reckless and self-destructive,” he said.
“If before my articles, Americans were writing that Russia would never use nuclear weapons, they soon began to write that they may still use them. And now they write about how to save Russia from nuclear weapons and how, God forbid, not to lose in a third global war. “
He said his prospects had “helped nuclear deterrence by putting this factor on the agenda. “
In a new interview, Sergey Karaganov says he’s happy with his advocacy for nuclear first strikes in Europe, arguing that it moved the escalation needle and got Russia taken more seriously. (Nothing here about his Venice apartment, sadly.)https://t.co/a8SmPSzXJu
He added that Russia “has taken several steps on the ladder of escalation, which have been read and understood in the West. “Newsweek has reached out to the Russian Foreign Ministry for comment.
In an interview with the official Tass news agency on Thursday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov blamed the United States for “deteriorating” the nuclear weapons scenario by creating “unacceptable conditions,” such as the New START treaty, in which Moscow has suspended its participation. .
“As for the clients of the discussion with the United States on the New START Treaty and an agreement on anything to update it, we have made it transparent that the discussion will take place without Washington abandoning its anti-Russian stance. “
Meanwhile, Putin’s ally, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, said this week that a delivery of tactical nuclear weapons to the country had been completed, the Associated Press reported.
Brendan Cole is a senior journalist at Newsweek in London, UK. It focuses on Russia and Ukraine, specifically on the war unleashed through Moscow. It also covers other areas of geopolitics, adding China.
Brendan joined Newsweek in 2018 from the International Business Times and, in addition to English, is fluent in Russian and French.
You can get in touch with Brendan by emailing [email protected] or follow on him on his X account @brendanmarkcole.