Russia expert decodes Putin’s threat to place nuclear weapons next door to Ukraine

Russia plans to station tactical nuclear weapons in neighboring Belarus, President Vladimir Putin told state television. Moscow will complete the construction of a special storage facility for tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus by the beginning of July, Putin told state broadcaster Russia 1. Former CNN Moscow bureau chief Jill Dougherty discusses why Putin may have made this new threat and if it should be taken seriously.
#jilldougherty #CNN #Newsroom

42 comments

  1. That will not go over well with the rest of the world …but the world can not back down. You show him an ounce of weakness , he’ll take that as a victory . Putin is in trouble and he’s trying to save face

  2. The Ukrainian people don’t want to be another province in Putin’s empire. People who value freedom understand this and support them.

    1. Lol, Seymour, if you mind me asking who are you to act as a representative of the people in those provinces, and how do you know whether or not they want to apart of Russia?

  3. Excellent profesional Jill. I’ve admired her ver since the first time on CNN long long time ago

  4. We should never buy Putin’s blackmailing, and we should never let him get away with it. We must stay firm and hold our position to protect our values by all means to help our friends, Ukraine, protect their country, their families and their existence. Putin must be reminded that Russia is not only the country with nuclear arsenals.

    1. @Omarion Bayley you apearently forgot that Russia had a normal relationship with EU before start of this war. They even were negotioting with Ukraine along with France and Germany. They made Misk 1 and 2 agreement with Ukraine in Belarus. However, Russia was repeatively asking NATO to do not bring even its normal missiles close to Russian border, though NATO was not listening. If they were doing it at the time, it become a bigger esclation when they are already in normal relation with EU.

  5. Decoding the ‘message’… “Please be afraid and give up so I can have a win in Ukraine and thus survive as dictator”

  6. Pooty is setting up so he can launch a nuke even if his Generals say “no”. However he is forgetting ….Luka does not have the balls at all. But guess where the first incoming is going to hit? Congrats Belarusians ……..you lose.

  7. Maybe Putin is only thinking of placing depleted uranium artillery shells, which I think he classifies as nuclear weapons, in Belarus.

  8. That was my first thought when heard about this Ukraine invasion. Even tho u would think Russia and China would have the capabilities to launch a nuke on anywhere on planet but strategically. I would conjure a territory to get closer to my enemy

  9. Has anyone noticed that things seem to be escalating recently on various fronts? This is very not good.

  10. FYI, Belarus & Russia signed a mutual defence pact that obligates one to come to the assistance of the other, IF the other is being attacked. Lukashenko is not interested in getting involved in any war, so he has stood firm against Putin’s desire for Belarus to carry out military actions against Ukraine. However, Lukashenko knows that he cannot anger Putin too much, or he will be removed from power (and likely killed), so Lukashenko has allowed Putin to move Russia forces into Belarus, use Belarus as a staging area to begin the full-fledged invasion of Ukraine, and store/repair Russian equipment in Belarus during the war. So, Lukashenko really has no choice re allowing Putin to store tactical nuclear weapons in facilities in Belarus that the Russians will build over the next few months.

    Also, it needs to be understood that Russian law explicitly states that nuclear weapons of any kind may only be used if Russia is attacked & its sovereignty is in grave danger. This is important, because – while Putin has a lot of power in the Kremlin & over Russian citizens – the Russian military & other politicians/leaders would have a legal right to refuse Putin’s order to use nuclear weapons to attack another nation without Russia itself being attacked in force. So, Putin doesn’t have control of the nuclear arsenal to the degree some people may think.

    As far as Putin’s move. In a way, this is far less inflammatory than all the nuclear bluster that Putin & his propagandists in Russian media have been spewing forth throughout the war. In previous ‘threats’, the nuclear weapons have been strategic nuclear weapons…long-range & ICBM-delivered nuclear warheads, which are capable of levelling cities. In the case of tactical nuclear weapons, they are designed to level battlefield-sized areas…still horrible, but only a threat to locations near to the borders with Belarus/Russia.

    Last, but certainly not least, we all need to remember that Russia’s ally China, and every ‘western’ nation in Europe & North America (.i.e. NATO, E.U., G7 nations, etc.) have made it clear that the use of tactical or strategic nuclear weapons by Russia is totally unacceptable, and that there will be serious consequences if Putin used them. Furthermore, President Biden stated publicly that there would be “catastrophic” consequences for Russia is Putin used nuclear weapons of any type. Consequently, despite Putin & Russian propagandist threats of nuclear weapon attacks, it is pretty clear that Putin knows that his life, the life of his daughters, and the existence of Russia would end if he was stupid enough to use nuclear weapons…and this is why he hasn’t followed through on his threats (..despite being frustrated & angry by NATO’s/E.U.’s material support for Ukraines military…despite the total failure of his military to defeat Ukraine in the last 13 months..), AND this is why it’s fair & reasonable to conclude that Putin will not use nuclear weapons. IMHO, it’s best that western strategists & the Ukrainian military just continue to do what it takes to win the war, and, ideally, it would be great if the media just ignored Russian rhetoric re nuclear weapons, rather than giving Putin & his propagandists the attention (therefore power) they crave.

    1. It should be noted that Russia signed a very similar pact with Ukraine, obliging it to come to never attack Ukraine, and to assist Ukraine if it is ever attacked. 😂😂🤣🤣

  11. Sounds like vladdy boy likes to keep everybody scared and wondering but you can never predict what a serial killer is going to do🤔

  12. NATO can also place their nuclear weapons next door to Russia in both Poland and Finland. Russia don’t understand they are surrounded

  13. “You’re doing something so we can do the same.” Russia lost the Cold War. It’s unfortunate that the Soviet Union wasn’t destroyed before they developed any nukes at all. “Operation Unthinkable” was called that only because we could not allow ourselves to think about it. We should have thought about it. very useful information

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