First a test nuclear mushroom explosion and then their normal use -
Russia is a breath away from the use of tactical nuclear weapons after the rapid escalation in its relations with NATO.
Putin's adviser, Dmitry Suslov, suggested first a test nuclear explosion with the "mushroom" broadcast live around the world through the media, and then, if NATO does not come to its senses, regular use of tactical nuclear weapons.
Dmitry Suslov, member of the Russian Foreign and Defense Policy Council, deputy director of global economy and international policy at the Moscow Higher School of Economics, and Valdai Club expert said the following:
.......The West does not believe in the seriousness of the Russian nuclear deterrent and allows itself to cross its borders one after another. What can Russia do but clearly show how determined it is?
All indications are that the United States and some of its allies will soon allow Ukraine to use Western weapons, including long-range missiles, to attack targets within Russia's internationally recognized borders, that is, those parts of Russia that already from the Maidan in Kiev in 2014 they were Russians.
In America, the New York Times recently reported , supporters of the idea include Secretary of State Antony Blinken, most Republicans in Congress (including House Speaker Mike Johnson) and many members of the foreign policy establishment.
Also present was Victoria Nuland, who recently resigned as Under Secretary of State. In Europe, Poland, the Baltic states, Germany's main opposition CDU/CSU and some Western European officials, including British Foreign Secretary David Cameron, support the measure.
Recently, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg made a similar call, but he would not have made such a statement if the issue had not already been discussed at a practical level and received significant support from Washington. It has already reached the point where the issue is being discussed at the level of the heads of the defense ministries of the EU member states.
Such a decision would take the conflict to a fundamentally different level, would mark the crossing of one of the clearest "red lines" in existence since February 24, 2022, and would signal the immediate entry of the United States and its NATO bloc into the war against of Russia. The strikes would be carried out based on coordinates provided by Western intelligence services.
In other words, the West itself has given the conflict in Ukraine the status of a world war, and therefore the defeat of Kiev will mean its own strategic defeat, the final collapse of the Western-style international order. The worse the situation for Kiev on the front, the greater the risk of escalation the West is willing to take.
Suslov continues:
The second reason is Russia's reluctance to escalate relations with the West whenever the latter crosses the "red line" and becomes more involved in the conflict (supplying Kiev with tanks, aircraft and, eventually, long-range missiles). As a result, the fear of escalation, which was relatively high at the start of the military operation, has gradually decreased, as repeatedly emphasized by Western reports.
Thus, the West has come to believe that the cost of Kiev's defeat is much greater than the risks of a direct military confrontation with Russia, arising from the fact that Western weapons can penetrate deep into its "old" territory. The voices of those who argue that this time Moscow will not cause direct military damage to Western countries are getting louder.
Unless further Western intervention in the Ukraine conflict is stopped now, a full-scale "hot" war between Russia and NATO is inevitable. Because of the superiority of the United States and the 31 members of NATO in the field of conventional weapons, this war will inevitably go to the nuclear level.
.......
To reinforce the seriousness of Russia's intentions and to convince our adversaries of Moscow's willingness to escalate if necessary, the possibility of an ostentatious (ie, non-aggressive) nuclear detonation should be considered. The political and psychological impact of a mushroom cloud, broadcast live on every television channel in the world, will hopefully give Western politicians back what prevented wars between the great powers after 1945 and what they have now largely lost: the fear of nuclear war.