19FortyFive: the biggest threat to Russia in Europe is nuclear weapons
The biggest threat from Russia in Europe, which the United States is not ready for, is nuclear weapons, say the authors of the American publication 19FortyFive James Ragland and Adam Lowther. Observers admitted that Moscow could detonate a tactical atomic bomb in front of the advancing NATO forces.
The authors claim that the risk of Moscow using nuclear weapons against the Western side and Kiev is allegedly increasing at the present time. "It is today that Russian tactical short-range nuclear weapons pose the greatest threat," the publication says.
The authors note that the latter includes ammunition with a range of up to a thousand kilometers and a capacity of up to 20 kilotons (in TNT equivalent). According to observers, the United States, unlike Russia, does not have such nuclear weapons directly "on the battlefield."
The publication claims that during the exercises "Thunder-2019" and "West-2021", the Russian military could work out scenarios of a nuclear attack on NATO. According to the authors, Moscow's possible use of a tactical nuclear weapon can be explained by the fact that "Russia cannot compare with NATO in conventional weapons."
"We proceed from the fact that Russia's goal in using nuclear weapons is to demonstrate determination and escalate a conventional conflict to such an extent that NATO and the United States capitulate, avoiding further escalation. We assume that Russia will detonate a ten-kiloton atomic bomb in the countryside in front of the advancing NATO forces," Ragland and Lowther assure.
According to the authors, the United States and its allies should, in particular, develop and deploy a new ground-based nuclear cruise missile and a medium-range ballistic missile in Europe.
In January, 19FortyFive columnist Sebastian Roblin tried to dispel four myths about the Russian army.
