Should you be worried about Putin’s latest nuclear threats?

On September 21st, Russian President Vladimir Putin added another nuclear threat to his long list of ultimatums and remarks on the subject. But should the global community take these threats seriously? Here’s what Putin said and why you might not need to worry.

The Russian President sat down in front of the cameras for a rare address to his people in order to explain the progress of the Kremlin’s special military operation in the Donbas, as well as the threats that faced Russia after roughly nineteen months of war in Ukraine. 

Putin accused the United States and its Western allies of “nuclear blackmail” according to a translation of the Russian President’s comments from NBC News and claimed that NATO officials talked about “using nuclear weapons of mass destruction against Russia.   

The Russian President then delivered a warning to the West: “If the territorial integrity of our country is threatened,” Putin explained to the cameras, “we will certainly use all the means at our disposal to protect Russia and our people,” Putin added. “It’s not a bluff.”

Whether or not Putin would actually order a nuclear strike if Moscow is defeated on the battlefields of Ukraine is not known. However, U.S. President Joe Biden and members of his administration have taken Putin’s nuclear threats seriously in the past. 

On April 18th, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman warned America’s NATO allies that they needed to watch for signs Russia was preparing to use a nuclear device while speaking at the alliance’s Annual Conference on Weapons of Mass Destruction. 

Photo Credit: Wiki Commons: By U.S. Department of State from United States - Deputy Secretary Sherman's Official Photo, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=104489994

"We have all watched and worried that Vladimir Putin would use what he considers a non-strategic tactical nuclear weapon or use some demonstration effect to escalate, but in a managed risk escalation,” Deputy Secretary Sherman said. 

"It is very critical to remain watchful of this,” Sherman continued, echoing the thoughts of many policymakers following Putin’s decision to deploy nuclear weapons to Belarus. In June, Biden issued a similar warning when he said threats of nuclear use were real. 

President Biden was denouncing the placement of nuclear weapons in Belarus, a move Russia had decided on in April and executed in June. However, while Biden denounced the move, he also said the nuclear threats from Putin were real according to Reuters. 

"When I was out here about two years ago saying I worried about the Colorado River drying up, everybody looked at me like I was crazy," Biden told California donors. "They looked at me like when I said I worry about Putin using tactical nuclear weapons. It's real."

Luckily, you do not need to be worried according to University of St. Andrew’s strategic studies professor Phillips O’Brien. He explained to NBC News that Putin’s latest speech is likely a scare tactic meant to keep the world worried rather than an actual threat. 

“I think it signals that he wants people to think he would risk nuclear war,” O’Brien said.  “I don’t think it means he is any more likely to do it than he was yesterday.”