Vladimir Putin is rattling sabres with a veiled threat to spark a new Cuban Missile Crisis by suggesting he could deploy weapons of mass destruction globally to needle the West, experts have sounded the alarm.
On Wednesday, the Russian leader hinted at arming Western adversaries in response to NATO allies supplying Ukraine with arms that could reach Russian soil.
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Putin told reporters: “If they consider it possible to deliver such weapons to the combat zone to launch strikes on our territory and create problems for us, why don’t we have the right to supply weapons of the same type to some regions of the world where they can be used to launch strikes on sensitive facilities of the countries that do it to Russia? We will think about it.”
Defence guru Nicholas Drummond conveyed to the Express. his belief that Putin’s words echo the perilous brinkmanship of the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, which nearly tipped the world into nuclear war.
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Drummond explained: “He is threatening a sort of Cuban Missile Crisis 2 where you have tactical cruise missiles, nuclear weapons, and weapons of mass destruction placed in places where we would not like them.”
“A lot depends on what those weapons are and where they come from. Russia’s stocks of tactical cruise missiles are vastly reduced.”
“On the whole, I view it as an empty threat. Putin loves to bully and cajole for effect, and very rarely backs up his threats with real action because he is scared of what NATO would do. He is not going to start World War 3, and he knows NATO won’t start World War 3.”
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The skirmishing continues in concert with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Mostly centred around Kharkiv, Russia aims to take control of the city eventually.
Mr Drummond believes the continued unsuccessful endeavors in Ukraine since February 2022 has put Putin under pressure back home in Moscow.
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Adding on, he said: “Putin has been weakened by what is going on. His failure to achieve a decisive result in Ukraine in 2023 was very damaging for him within Russia.”
“Now the mothers of soldiers who have died are very angry. People say Russia has this enormous capacity to sustain casualties.”
“Ordinary Russians are much more informed now…Russia has had at least 200,000 deaths in two years and is approaching 500,000 casualties.”
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“That is unsustainable. It has weakened Putin at home and within his inner circle. They will be talking among themselves thinking ‘what do we do about this?”
