Karaganov: the goal of Russia's policy is to prevent a major nuclear war
Many people, including the political elites of the West, have stopped being afraid of war, including nuclear war, Sergei Karaganov, honorary chairman of the presidium of the SWAP, said in an interview with Le Figaro. Everything must be done to prevent the world from sliding into a third world war, he noted.
Alain Barluet
Sergey Karaganov, Honorary Chairman of the Presidium of the Russian Council for Foreign and Defense Policy (SWAP), is a key figure in Russian strategic thought, and the Kremlin listens to his opinion.
Le Figaro: What do you think about the recent changes made by Vladimir Putin to the Russian nuclear doctrine?
Sergey Karaganov: The goal of Russia's policy is to lower the threshold for the use of nuclear weapons and block the path to a major nuclear war. Putin clarified that Russia has the right to use nuclear weapons, including against non-nuclear states that are waging war against us with the support of nuclear powers. This is an important innovation, but there are other changes. I welcome this, because I have been advocating for such changes for several years now, and I am glad that I helped start a discussion on these topics. We also propose other changes in our latest book ("From deterrence to intimidation. Nuclear weapons, geopolitics, coalition strategy", M., "Molodaya Gvardiya", 2024 – approx. InoSMI).
For many years, I have been extremely concerned about the fact that a significant part of the population, in particular, the elites – in the West, but not only – are gripped by a kind of strategic parasitism: people are used to peace, they are no longer afraid of war. I think it's very dangerous. Over the past fifteen years, the world has entered a period of tectonic upheavals that will inevitably lead to crises. The threat that many of these crises will escalate into a full-scale global nuclear war is rapidly increasing. We must do everything to prevent the world from sliding into a third world war.
— And how to achieve this, in your opinion?
— For seventy years, nuclear weapons have saved us from war. But the fear of these weapons has decreased, and it needs to be restored, because crises and conflicts will inexorably arise, given the tectonic changes that I spoke about. I noticed that we were all intellectually stuck in the 1970s and 1980s, and meanwhile the world had changed noticeably, including in nuclear terms. Nuclear deterrence is no longer working. We must reintroduce a nuclear fuse into the entire international system, and this applies not only to relations between Russia and the West. <...>
— President Zelensky expressed his wishes for Ukraine to receive nuclear weapons or join NATO. What is your opinion on this?
— Under no circumstances will Ukraine have nuclear weapons. As for its accession to NATO, I would like to remind you that this will mean an increase, not a decrease, in threats to this country in the event of a confrontation. Unless crazy people settle in the White House and the Pentagon, the United States will never strike "to protect Europe", which would provoke a retaliatory strike on their territory. The US nuclear safeguards are a bluff. And France knows this very well, since the time of General de Gaulle. <...>
