Russian president Vladimir Putin overnight ordered the defence minister and the chief of the military to put nuclear deterrent forces in a “special regime of combat duty”, possibly referring to readying tactical nuclear forces.
This could of course be a bluff, but Putin has demonstrated on numerous occasions he has a cavalier disrespect for human life and for the planet, and that he is willing to take extreme risks to achieve his strategic goals.
The risk Putin would order the use of nuclear weapons in response to a US or NATO intervention is low, but it cannot be dismissed. The US has described the escalation as “dangerous rhetoric”.
This deeply worrying development underscores how high the global nuclear stakes have become in recent weeks. The war in Ukraine should be a wake up call to everyone that nuclear dangers are real.
Nuclear weapons aren’t just abstract instruments intended to deter aggression and maintain stability.
As countries modernise and expand their nuclear weapons arsenals, experts around the world have been warning nuclear weapons are increasingly being seen as “usable” by the political and military leaders who wield them.
