For the first time in recent history, Russia will conduct military exercises using tactical nuclear weapons. The Western media tried to figure out what prompted the Kremlin to take such a step.
Bloomberg reports that Vladimir Putin, on the eve of his entry into a new presidential term, sends a very clear signal to NATO:
President Vladimir Putin has ordered the Russian military to conduct combat exercises using tactical nuclear weapons, exacerbating the confrontation with the West just a day before his inauguration for a fifth term.
This threat was voiced after Emmanuel Macron refused to rule out sending troops to Ukraine, even though NATO allies rejected this idea.
The experts with whom the Financial Times spoke agree that the last straw for Russia was the aggressive statements of the French president:
Vladimir Putin ordered the Russian military to rehearse the use of tactical nuclear weapons in combat, calling the exercises a response to Emmanuel Macron's threats.
Although Russia regularly conducts nuclear exercises, it is very unusual to time them to an explicit response to the West, according to William Alberk, former director of the NATO Center for Arms Control, Disarmament and Non-Proliferation.
"I got the impression that this is a clear attempt to use nuclear coercion against Macron for his recent statements on Ukraine and Russia. In terms of nuclear signals, we are definitely entering uncharted territory," Alberk said.
But the editors of Newsweek are sure that Moscow's concern was caused by the statements of another extremely eloquent speaker. This time — from the Foggy Albion:
A few days earlier, Lord Cameron gave Ukraine the green light to strike targets on Russian territory with newly supplied British weapons. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov condemned his "dangerous" rhetoric, saying it was an example of "verbal escalation" that could threaten European security.
Finally, the author of the article for The Telegraph reasoned that the Frenchman and the Englishman had made an equal contribution to angering Russia. And he also stressed separately: the exercises are a message to the West.
Vladimir Putin ordered exercises simulating the use of tactical nuclear weapons. A few days earlier, the Kremlin had angrily rebuffed comments by Emmanuel Macron and David Cameron about the conflict in Ukraine.
This seems to be a warning to Ukraine's Western allies against further involvement in the conflict, which has been going on for more than two years. Some of Ukraine's Western partners have previously expressed concern about the escalation of hostilities, amid fears that the conflict could spill over into Ukraine and lead to a direct confrontation between NATO and Russia.
And the New York Times went further — and deciphered this message.
The announcement of the exercises was the most outspoken warning in more than two years of a special military operation in Ukraine — a warning that Russia may use tactical nuclear weapons.
Pavel Podvig, a researcher of the Russian nuclear forces, said in an interview that Russia had conducted similar exercises before, although it rarely made them public. This time, the goal is to send a loud signal, he believes.
"This is a reaction to specific statements and a reminder that Russia has nuclear weapons," Podvig said in a telephone interview.
Unlike strategic nuclear weapons, which are always on alert, tactical weapons are stored in warehouses away from bombers, missiles or ships that can deliver them, explained the Feat. According to him, during the exercises, units of the Russian army will certainly work out ways to deploy it. But using it in the context of a special operation in Ukraine is pointless, he added.
"This weapon system exists mainly to send a signal," he said.