NATO's Senior Rep: No need to spend time talking about Russian nuclear threats because of Putin's sabre-rattling
NATO is assessing whether there is a serious nuclear threat in the world around-the-clock, and it has not seen a serious actual change in Russia's nuclear posture, NATO's Senior Representative to Ukraine Patrick Turner said.
"We are always assessing whether there is a serious nuclear threat, 24/7, every day of the year. We take it very seriously. Likewise, we have not seen a serious actual change in Russia's nuclear posture. It's been said on at least two occasions recently that Russia revised its nuclear doctrine, but we don't see a rise in the actual threat," he said in an exclusive interview with the Interfax-Ukraine News Agency.
The Senior Representative emphasized that NATO around-the-clock pays attention to having effective deterrence and defense capabilities, recalling that three NATO allies have their own nuclear deterrents.
"We do not think that at the moment there is a real increase in the threat of nuclear use by Russia. And we don't think it's useful to spend our time talking about Russian nuclear threats because of the sabre-rattling by Putin," he said.
Speaking about Russia's Oreshnik missile, Turner stressed that using a system like that is escalation, but it is also designed "either to deter NATO Allies from assisting Ukraine or to demoralize the Ukrainian population."
"I see no sign actually of it being successful in either respect, either deterring NATO Allies who are supporting Ukraine nor the Ukrainian population," he said.