Russia has not ‘gone mad’ over nuclear weapons – but Putin won’t rule out first strike

Published

3 years ago

December 8, 2022

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Vladimir Putin has said “we haven’t gone mad” when asked about concerns he could use nuclear weapons in Ukraine – but didn’t rule out a possible first-strike if threatened.

The Russian president described the weapons as a deterrent, but reiterated his country would use “all the means at our disposal” to defend its interests if “peaceful means” were to fail.

It is the latest in a number of statements since the start of the war in which he has kept open the nuclear option.

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“We haven’t gone mad. We fully understand what nuclear weapons are,” Mr Putin told a member of the presidential Human Rights Council in televised comments.

“We have them, and they are more advanced and state-of-the-art than what any other nuclear power have,” he said.

“We aren’t going to brandish those weapons like a razor running around the world, but we naturally proceed from their existence.

“It’s a factor of deterrence, not a factor provoking an escalation of the conflict.”

The president none-the-less declined to rule out a theoretical first-strike, claiming it could stop Russia defending itself.

He said Russia had a “launch on warning” doctrine, whereby Russia would fire nuclear weapons if targeted by an imminent nuclear attack – or by a conventional attack that threatened its existence.

“If it doesn’t use it first under any circumstances, it means that it won’t be the second to use it either, because the possibility of using it in case of a nuclear strike on our territory will be sharply limited,” the president said.

Many Western countries have previously criticised Mr Putin’s nuclear comments as dangerous.

However, he claimed on Wednesday he had been provoked by former UK prime minister Liz Truss when she spoke about her own readiness to use nuclear weapons.

He appeared to be referring to comments by Ms Truss in August in which she told a Tory hustings event she would be “ready” to use WMDs if necessary.

“I had to emphasise certain things in response,” said Mr Putin.

“Her comments went largely unnoticed, but they immediately emphasised our statements and used them to scare the world.”

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His remarks echoed ones from October, when he said Ms Truss was “a bit out of it” when she raised concerns over Russia’s nuclear capability in a UN speech.

Mr Putin also spoke about the status of the Ukraine war, where it has lost significant ground in recent months, and admitted it would likely be a “long process” – suggesting Russia has no plans to abandon the conflict any time soon.

He also tried to put to rest rumours of a second mobilisation next year, saying there was no need to conduct an additional call-up.

The Russian president said that of the 300,000 reservists drafted, about half had been sent to the zone of what Moscow calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine.

Some 77,000 were in combat units and the rest were performing defensive functions, he said.

Rumours have been growing among Russian opposition politicians and prominent pro-war Telegram channels of a second wave early next year.

World

Israel’s PM tries to get on front foot in propaganda war he knows he is losing

Published

5 hours ago

August 11, 2025

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Israel's PM tries to get on front foot in propaganda war he knows he is losing

Israel’s prime minister added more detail to his deeply controversial plans for military escalation in Gaza at a news conference with foreign media yesterday – despite the condemnation of the UN Security Council, which met in an emergency session and urged him to rethink.

Benjamin Netanyahu spoke of a “fairly short timetable” to establish designated “safe zones” for the one million or so set to be displaced from Gaza City.

He also vowed to seize and dismantle Hamas’s final strongholds there – in the central refugee camps, and in al Mawasi, along Gaza’s southwestern coast.

This, per Netanyahu, is the only way to destroy the terror group, which he claimed “subjugates Gazans, steals their food and shoots them when they try to move to safety”.

Al Mawasi is already home to a significant displaced population, most of whom live in tents cramped up against the Mediterranean Sea, in what is already a designated humanitarian zone.

If members of Hamas live among them, rooting them out will be hugely complicated and will involve significant civilian casualties. If the residents of Gaza City can’t evacuate south to al Mawasi, where will they go?

Netanyahu’s plan is to set up more aid distribution sites through the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) and to flood Gaza with food.

He claimed his policy was not one of forced starvation – describing particular photos of starving babies as “fake news”, and accusing the media of painting a false picture.

“The only ones who are being deliberately starved in Gaza are our hostages,” the prime minister claimed.

I asked Netanyahu how he would go about preventing the kinds of daily killings taking place at aid distribution points in the months since GHF has been operating.

Doctors Without Borders has described these incidents as deliberately orchestrated.

The prime minister said increasing the amount of aid heading into the Strip was the answer.

“And by the way, a lot of the firing was done by Hamas seeking to have a response by our forces,” he added. “And very often they didn’t, they held back. They stayed their own fire even though their own lives were on the line.”

This was Israel’s prime minister trying to get on the front foot in a propaganda war he acknowledged he was losing. He was loath to admit the presence of famine in Gaza.

It took two questions before he acknowledged there was “deprivation”, even if he would not be drawn on whether his 11-week total blockade of the strip earlier this year had played any role.

He recognises that the appalled response of the international community to the human cost of this war, and the accusations of war crimes and genocide which Israel so vehemently rejects, are a terrible look.

This was his attempt to reclaim the narrative.

World

Defiant Netanyahu sets out plan for military escalation in Gaza – and describes photographs of starving babies as ‘fake news’

Published

12 hours ago

August 10, 2025