Putin’s nuclear threats are bluff; Shoigu is trying to find more ways to threaten the world - diplomat Matthew Bryza

"For the first time in my life, the talk of using nuclear weapons didn't cause much fear, it wasn't taken seriously, and therefore it turned out to be counterproductive. Talking about the so-called ‘dirty bomb’, I think now it's an attempt to instill fear in all of us that some kind of radioactive weaponcan be used. NATO members have said that Putin is bluffing about his readiness to use nuclear weapons. We remember him saying, "I'm not bluffing," so he's bluffing. Because you never say you're not bluffing when it is  really the case. And Shoigu is just trying to find another way to scare everyone so that we put pressure on Ukraine, forcing it to negotiate and end the war that Russia has already lost," the diplomat said.

"After all, Putin has always rationalized his goals. His goal is to restore Russia's sense of greatness, to restore Novorosiya, that is, to include Ukrainian lands in Russia. If he kills all the people in Ukraine, then there will be no point in returning these lands to Russia. If he tries to destroy the whole world with a nuclear attack, he will forever go down in history, if there is any history at all, as a madman who tried to end the whole world. That is not in his plans. I am not a psychiatrist, and neither are you, but it seems that he behaves rationally and is not crazy, although there is a certain worldview component in this desire to restore Novorosiya," Bryza noted.

Novorosiya, literally "New Russia", is a historical name, used for an administrative area over the southern mainland of Ukraine during the Russian Empire rule . Nowadays, the term is used in Russian propaganda rhetorics by pro-Russian separatists, Russian chauvinists, and official Russian bodies. On June 26, 2014, an unrecognized quasi-state entity, the Union of People's Republics — Novorossiya, was proclaimed on the territory of certain districts of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions of Ukraine, controlled by pro-Russian separatists.

• On October 23, the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation Sergey Shoigu called the defense ministers of NATO countries and accused Ukraine of preparing provocations with a "dirty bomb".

• On October 24, Dmytro Kuleba announced that IAEA experts will come to Ukraine to inspect civilian facilities where, according to the Russian Federation, the development of a ‘dirty bomb’ is allegedly taking place.

• On October 24, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg called Russia's claims about the Ukrainian "dirty bomb" absurd.