© Sputnik / Mikhail Metzel
/
Ilya Tsukanov
Russia’s
military has parried bellicose statements by officials and lawmakers in
Washington, Paris and London about deploying troops in Ukraine by
announcing drills involving battlefield nuclear weapons. Sputnik asked
Earl Rasmussen, a 20-year veteran of the US Army-turned independent
military and foreign affairs observer, what it all means.
The Russian Foreign Ministry has characterized Russia’s
upcoming tactical
nuclear missile drills as a bid by Moscow to “cool down the ‘hot heads’
in Western capitals” threatening to deploy ground troops in Ukraine,
and take other aggressive steps which threaten to escalate the proxy war
in Ukraine into a full-blown Russia-NATO conflagration.
The
exercises “must be considered in the context of recent bellicose
statements by Western officials and the sharply destabilizing actions
taken by a number of NATO countries to pressure Russia with force, and
to create additional threats to the security of our country in
connection with the conflict in and around Ukraine,” the ministry said in a press statement on Monday.
This
includes threats to provide new forms of “direct assistance” to Kiev,
including the transfer of increasingly advanced weapons to the Zelensky
regime, as well as the US decision to tear up arms control agreements
with Russia in a bid to militarize both Europe and Asia, Moscow said.
The
drills should “help [NATO] realize the possible catastrophic
consequences of the strategic risks they generate, and keep them from
both assisting the Kiev regime in its terrorist actions, and from being
drawn into a direct armed confrontation with Russia,” the Ministry said.
Moscow also warned that it will
treat any F-16 fighter jets that
NATO plans to deliver to Ukraine as potential carriers of nuclear
weapons, and that it considers the decision to supply them as “a
deliberate provocation.” Combined with
Poland’s talk of willingness to deploy US nuclear weapons on its soil, reports of
French mercs already fighting in Ukraine,
and other provocations, the Foreign Ministry emphasized that the
Western bloc’s efforts signal a deliberate push “toward a further
escalation of the Ukrainian crisis toward an open military clash between
NATO and Russia as part of the implementation of the hostile course of
inflicting a ‘strategic defeat’ on our country.”
“The
regime in Kiev and its Western abettors should finally realize that
their reckless steps are bringing the situation ever closer to the
accumulation of an explosive ‘critical mass’,” Moscow warned, urging the
other side to rethink its positions.
Separately on Monday, the Ministry
summoned British
Ambassador to Russia Nigel Casey to warn him over the implications of
Foreign Minister David Cameron’s comments during his May 2 visit to Kiev
about the admissibility using British weaponry to carry out strikes on
Russian territory, stressing that the comments signal London’s admission
of its role as a direct party to the Ukrainian crisis, and that Moscow
will treat it accordingly.
“The
ambassador was told that the Russian side views D. Cameron’s words as
evidence of a serious escalation, and confirmation of London’s growing
involvement in military operations on the side of Kiev. N. Casey was
warned that the response to Ukrainian strikes using British weapons on
Russian territory could include any British military facilities and
equipment on the territory of Ukraine and beyond,” the ministry said.
Moscow
separately summoned French Ambassador to Russia Pierre Levy “in
connection with…bellicose statements by the French leadership,” and
France’s growing involvement in the Ukrainian crisis.
“This is a signal to the Western leaders that they are serious. They are not bluffing,”
retired US Army Lt. Col. Earl Rasmussen told Sputnik, commenting on the flurry of statements by the
Russian military, the
Kremlin and
the Foreign Ministry about Russia missile forces’ plans to hold
tactical nuclear weapons drills in the Southern Military District amid
NATO threats in Ukraine.
“If
the Western leaders escalate this further with direct engagement,
Russia will directly engage them: and they'll destroy their forces, and
potentially to protect the Russian state will, may result in tactical
nuclear weapons [being used]. This is not good: this would force an
escalation and eventually lead to a total nuclear war,” Rasmussen
warned.
“I
don't believe that Russia wants to do this. I believe they're trying to
send a signal to caution the Western leaders from escalating further,”
the 20-year US Army veteran-turned international and military affairs
commentator added.
Unfortunately,
Rasmussen warned, the hostile statements coming out of Western capitals
about “getting engaged” in Ukraine if the Ukrainian front collapses
serve to increase the risks of a direct clash. “This is a very, very
dangerous provocation, a very dangerous escalation. I would caution
Western leaders not to do that,” he urged.
“Ukraine
is not a NATO ally,” Rasmussen stressed, pointing out that Kiev at best
is a kind of “pseudo” ally, having received years of funding and
training from NATO countries, but having no obligation from the bloc to
come to its aid, much less perish in a potential flashpoint with Russia.
“But
this is, very, very, dangerous escalation from the verbal rhetoric and
threats from the West. And Russia's acting accordingly, basically
sending a clear signal that they will be prepared, they'll be trained,
they will be ready, if necessary. They don't not want to, but they will
protect the Russian state,” Rasmussen summed up.