Experts: Putin is trying to influence Biden with nuclear threats

Russian dictator Vladimir Putin is trying to influence American President Joe Biden. To do this, he is currently trying to use a psychological attack in the form of nuclear intimidation.

This was reported by RBC-Ukraine with reference to the comments of Oleksiy Yizhak, an expert on regional security at the National Institute for Strategic Studies, and political scientist Volodymyr Fesenko.

According to Fesenko, Putin's nuclear statement came on the eve of a meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the US President at the White House, where the main topic of discussion will be the lifting of restrictions on Western long-range weapons.

“Judging by Putin's statement, Russia is clearly afraid of this. That's why they have issued several warnings and even used 'heavy weapons' - a direct statement by Putin. This is a direct threat to the United States that if you give permission to Ukraine, it will be like declaring nuclear war. This is a psychological attack on Biden before his meeting with Zelensky,” Fesenko said in a commentary to the RBC-Ukraine YouTube channel.

However, the effectiveness of this nuclear blackmail by Russia has long been questioned. The other day, the Washington Post wrote that Putin had threatened the West with nuclear weapons so often and so much that the West had developed “immunity” to it.

As soon as the West “raised the stakes” in helping Ukraine (first by authorizing the transfer of artillery, then tanks, and then F-16s), the Kremlin immediately created new “red lines.” And each time these “red lines” were crossed without any consequences or response from the Kremlin.

At the same time, Yizhak believes that the chances that Putin's next nuclear threats will somehow influence the West's decision on Ukrainian strikes against Russia are very small

“Let's say, of all the factors that are taken into account, it is 1%. Because this is not even a change in doctrine, it is simply Russia's attempt to expand the legitimate scope of nuclear weapons use. But first, Putin has to get approval at least from China. The West has already made up its mind. If they see that Putin is just trying to intimidate, it will not affect the decision, even though we do not know what it is yet,” he explained.

Author - Dmitriy Levchenko, 27/09/2024