The nuclear powers have to publicly warn Russia about the tough measures that will be applied to it if the Russian Federation decides to launch a nuclear attack on the territory of Ukraine. This was stated by Advisor to the Head of the Office of the President Mykhailo Podolyak in an interview with The Guardian.
According to him, Russian President Vladimir Putin must clearly understand that any attempt to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine will lead to catastrophic consequences for the Russian Federation.
“The other nuclear states need to say very firmly that as soon as Russia even thinks of carrying out nuclear strikes on foreign territory – in this case the territory of Ukraine – there will be swift retaliatory nuclear strikes to destroy the nuclear launch sites in Russia,” said Mykhailo Podolyak.
In his opinion, the analytical capacity of the Russian President’s circle is very low now, and the state leadership does not understand all the risks of its actions and consequences for the Russian Federation itself.
“It’s hard to make predictions when a person is completely irrational,” he added.
According to Mykhailo Podoliak, Russia's impunity for nuclear threats would erode the long-standing principle that nuclear weapons can only be used defensively when the survival of a country is at stake.
“We have a big country that enters Ukrainian territory, starts a war, seizes some territory, and then says this territory is now ours and if you try to take it back we’ll use nuclear weapons. It looks absolutely absurd, and furthermore it destroys the whole global system of nuclear deterrence,” said Mykhailo Podolyak.