War, Made Nuclear

According to an article published in Voennaya Mysl, Russia's main military theoretical magazine published by the Ministry of Defense, Russian military experts are developing a new military strategy that would foresee the use of nuclear weapons. The article's author is the first deputy commander of the Strategic Missile Forces, Lieutenant General Igor Fazletdinov.   

The author claims that "the United States is gradually losing its leading position in the world," and that Russia is "the main obstacle to the preservation of world dominance and the main enemy." Fazletdinov asserts that the Pentagon intends to "defeat" Russia, and plans to conduct a "global strategic multi-sphere operation" for this purpose.

To counteract such plans, Russian military experts are elaborating new types of military operations for strategic deterrence. According to the article, such operations will include repelling a massive aerospace attack by the US and NATO, suppressing the US missile defense system, and inflicting "unacceptable damage" to the enemy with the help of Russian nuclear forces. The article emphasizes that nuclear weapons are "the cheapest means of deterrence from the final destabilization of relations between the parties and the outbreak of hostilities."

In recent years, Russian nuclear rhetoric has become more acute. In particular, in 2014, the General Director of the Rossiya Today agency and TV presenter Dmitry Kiselyov said on his weekly current affairs show that "Russia can turn the United States into radioactive ashes," and, in 2018, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared that in a nuclear war Russia's opponents would "die" and Russians would go "straight to heaven."

Since the beginning of the war between Russia and Ukraine, the number of threats of nuclear weapons has only increased. Putin claimed he would use "all available means to protect Russia and our people," ordered Russia's nuclear forces onto high alert, and suspended Russia's participation in a nuclear arms reduction treaty with the United States.