In a provocative proposal, Dmitry Suslov, a senior member of the Moscow-based Council for Foreign and Defence Policy, has suggested that Russia should consider a “demonstrative” nuclear explosion.
The suggestion comes amid escalating tensions with the West over Ukraine use of Western-supplied arms against Russian targets.
The proposal from Suslov, whose think tank’s ideas occasionally influence government policy, emerged just a day after President Vladimir Putin issued a stern warning to NATO members.
Putin cautioned that allowing Ukraine to use Western weapons for strikes inside Russia could ignite a global conflict, a sentiment he underscored with warnings of dire consequences.
Ukraine‘s leadership has asserted the necessity of striking Russian military targets within Russia using long-range Western missiles to defend itself and counter air, missile, and drone attacks. This stance has garnered some support among Western nations, although the United States has not yet endorsed it.
Russia, which boasts the largest nuclear arsenal globally, has consistently warned that such actions would be seen as a significant escalation. Moscow argues that this would drag NATO and the involved countries into a direct conflict, heightening the risk of nuclear war.
Suslov emphasized the need for Russia to take decisive action to deter the West from crossing a critical threshold. He proposed a non-combat nuclear explosion to serve as a stark warning. “To confirm the seriousness of Russia‘s intentions and to convince our opponents of Moscow’s readiness to escalate, it is worth considering a demonstrative (i.e. non-combat) nuclear explosion,” Suslov wrote in the business magazine Profil.
He further elaborated on the potential impact of such an action: “The political and psychological effect of a nuclear mushroom cloud, which will be shown live on all TV channels around the world, will hopefully remind Western politicians of the one thing that has prevented wars between the great powers since 1945 and that they have now largely lost – fear of nuclear war.”
The plan is the latest in a series of suggestions from Russian security experts and lawmakers advocating for a nuclear test to intimidate the West amid the ongoing Ukraine conflict. Such discussions have alarmed Western security experts, raising concerns that Russia might be inching closer to conducting such a test.
The Kremlin has yet to comment on Suslov’s suggestion. Officially, Russia‘s nuclear policy remains unchanged. However, earlier this month, the Kremlin signaled its dissatisfaction with what it perceives as increasingly aggressive Western rhetoric by ordering tactical nuclear weapons drills.
In addition to the nuclear test proposal, Suslov recommended that Russia initiate strategic nuclear exercises and issue stern warnings. He suggested that Moscow should notify any country whose weapons are used by Kyiv to attack Russia that it reserves the right to strike targets in that country globally. He also hinted that Russia might consider using nuclear weapons if such a country retaliated conventionally.