After Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko claimed Russia had already delivered tactical nuclear missiles to bases in his puppet state earlier this week, a hardline ally of Vladimir Putin has called for “weapons of God” to be launched on European cities to “break” the West. Sergey Karaganov, a chairman at the Council of Foreign and Defence Policy, wrote on a Kremlin-affiliated website that Russia should escalate its nuclear rhetoric to try to force Western countries to “back down” from supporting Ukraine.
His remarks followed Putin’s warning this week that continued supplies of Western weapons to Ukraine could trigger World War 3.
Karaganov, a hardliner thought to have influenced Putin’s thinking on the West and Ukraine, suggested advising Russians living abroad to evacuate from areas near potential targets. If this failed, he said that Moscow should carry out nuclear attacks on European cities.
“This is a morally terrible choice — we use the weapons of God, dooming ourselves to severe spiritual losses. But if this is not done, not only Russia may perish, but, most likely, the entire human civilisation will end,” he wrote in an article titled A Difficult But Necessary Decision, published by Global Affairs, a Kremlin-linked website.
He added he did not believe the US would retaliate with nuclear strikes of their own if they affected areas were only in Europe.
He said: “Only if there is a madman in the White House … will America decide on a strike to defend Europeans, incurring a response and sacrificing, say, Boston for, say, Poznan.”
The tactical warheads could be housed at Lida air base, 25 miles from the Lithuanian border, according to the Federation of American Scientists think tank.
Lukashenko said he would not hesitate to order their use if Belarus faced an act of aggression, although he did not specify what constituted such an act.
“God forbid I have to make a decision to use those weapons today, but there would be no hesitation if we face an aggression,” he said.
He added that if he were to use just one missile, “up to a million people may instantly die”.
READ MORE: Belarus has ‘no hesitation using nuclear weapons’, says Lukashenko [REVEAL]
“Using nuclear weapons could save humanity from a global catastrophe” – yet another crazy thought of the Russian propaganda.
Sergey Karaganov, pro-Kremlin political scientist, academic head of global economy and global politics faculty in Higher School of Economics, called for… pic.twitter.com/Lzcugp7bZW
But NATO secretary general Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance sees no sign that Russia has changed its nuclear posture, in spite of the Belarus transfer.
“We are, of course, closely monitoring what Russia is doing,” he said. “So far, we haven’t seen any changes in the nuclear posture that requires any changes in our posture.”
But the alliance is concerned about Putin’s threats and his decisions to pull Russia out of important arms limitation treaties.
Mr Stoltenberg reiterated on Thursday that it was paramount that a nuclear war “must never be fought”.
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