Karaganov: Russia Must Announce It Will Use Nukes if the West Strikes with Long-Range Missiles
Sept. 13—In an interview with Russian daily Kommersant, covered by RT strategic analyst Sergey Karaganov (who is described as a former Kremlin advisor) responded to the discussion about Western approval of Kyiv’s use of long-range missiles to attack Russia, with a renewed call for Russia make sure the West knows that Russia is ready to use nuclear weapons. The RT article recalls Karaganov’s public exchange with President Putin at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum last June, where Putin allowed him to lay out his whole proposal to then reject it.
RT’s article is headlined “Enemies Must Be Sure Russia Is Ready To Use Nuclear Weapons—Former Kremlin Adviser,” and noted that “his words came amid the continued Ukrainian incursion into Russia’s Kursk Region and Kyiv’s attempts to receive permission for the use of Western long-range missiles to strike deep inside the country.”
Karaganov, who is the Honorary Chairman of the Presidium of the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, argued that current Russian doctrine is “woefully outdated…. We have allowed the situation to deteriorate to a point when our adversaries believe we will not use nuclear weapons under any circumstances. Having nuclear weapons without being able to convince your enemies that you are ready to use them is suicide…. The main goal of a doctrine should be in convincing all current and future enemies that Russia is ready to use nuclear weapons.”
The absence of an effective nuclear deterrent policy “would plunge the world into a series of wars that would inevitably turn nuclear and end up with the World War III … within the span of several years.”
“It’s high time we stated that any massive strikes against our territory give us a right to respond with a nuclear strike,” insisted Karaganov. RT adds: “He also called on Moscow to clearly define the ‘nuclear escalation’ steps in the next doctrine to leave Russia’s adversaries no room for doubt about whether it is ready to use its nuclear arsenal and when.”
