Kremlin-friendly think tank says Russia should consider ‘demonstrative’ nuclear explosion

By Andrew Osborn

(Reuters) – A senior member of a Russian think tank whose ideas sometimes become government policies suggested Moscow consider a “demonstrative” nuclear blast to deter the West from refusing to allow Ukraine to use its weapons against targets in Russia.

The proposal, from Dmitry Suslov, a member of the Moscow-based Council for Foreign and Defense Policy, was published a day after President Vladimir Putin warned the West that NATO members in Europe were playing with fire by proposing to let Kiev use Western weapons to strike deep into Russia, which he said could spark global conflict.

Ukrainian leaders say they must be able to hit Russian forces and military targets in Russia with long-range Western missiles to be able to defend themselves and prevent air, missile and drone attacks, a view that has found some support among some Western countries, but not yet with Washington.

Russia, which has the world’s largest nuclear arsenal, has warned that it would view such a move as a serious escalation that would drag NATO and affected countries into direct conflict with Moscow, increasing the risk of nuclear war.

Suslov, a member of the Council for Foreign and Defense Policy, a think tank praised by Putin who said authorities sometimes echo his policy ideas, said Russia must act to dissuade the West from crossing a red line.

“To confirm the seriousness of Russia’s intentions and convince our opponents of Moscow’s desire for escalation, it is worth considering a demonstrative (i.e. non-combat) nuclear explosion,” Suslov wrote in the economic magazine Profil.

“The political and psychological effect of a mushroom cloud, which will be broadcast live on all television channels around the world, will hopefully remind Western politicians of what has prevented wars between the great powers since 1945 and which they have now largely avoided – fear of nuclear war.

Suslov is the latest Russian security expert and lawmaker to say Moscow should test a nuclear bomb to intimidate amid the war in Ukraine, fueling fears among Western security experts that Russia could be moving toward such a test.

Such a move, if it happens, could usher in a new era of high-powered nuclear testing.

There was no immediate comment on Suslov’s proposal from the Kremlin, which said Russia’s nuclear policy remained unchanged while signaling displeasure with what it called more Western rhetoric. more aggressively on arming Kiev earlier this month by ordering tactical nuclear weapons exercises.

NUCLEAR TEST?

Suslov suggested that Russia also launch strategic nuclear exercises, warn any country whose weapons kyiv uses to attack Russia that Moscow reserves the right to strike that country’s targets anywhere in the world, and to warn it that it could use nuclear weapons if that country then responded conventionally.

Putin signed a law in November withdrawing Russia’s ratification of the global treaty banning nuclear weapons testing, a move he said was aimed at aligning Russia with the United States, which signed but never ratified the treaty.

Russian diplomats said at the time that Russia, which has not conducted a post-Soviet nuclear test, would not resume nuclear testing unless Washington did so.

The Soviet Union last conducted a nuclear test in 1990 and the United States in 1992. Only North Korea has conducted a test involving a nuclear explosion this century.

Russia this month warned Britain that it could strike British military installations and equipment in Ukraine and elsewhere if British weapons were used by Ukraine – with London’s blessing – to strike Russian territory. .

He issued the warning after British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said kyiv had the right to use weapons supplied by the United Kingdom to strike targets in Russia.

(Reporting by Andrew Osborn; editing by Nick Macfie)