Putin's threat to use tactical nuclear weapons means raising stakes to the highest level – Nazarbayev's ex-adviser

He shared his opinion live on air at the “Studio West with Antin Borkovskyi” program  on Espreso TV

"Putin's tactics, related to raising stakes and threats, have as their end point the threat of a tactical nuclear strike, most likely on Ukraine. If in Russia's long-standing, pre-war plans, all these issues were worked out, now they are taking on a definite form in connection with the extremely difficult current situation, first of all for Russia itself. I want to note yesterday's Stoltenberg statement that NATO is no longer afraid of these threats. If at the very beginning, in February-March, there was some fear in Western circles and leadership, now the situation has changed. The USA and NATO have found a solution in case of Putin's crazy action with a tactical nuclear strike" Musayev explained.

The former head of Kazakhstan’s National Security Committee believes that the use of nuclear weapons by Russia against Ukraine will lead to the Third World War.

"There were many statements by the American leadership and NATO that if such a strike happens, the Russian Black Sea fleet would be destroyed primarily with the help of conventional weapons, and all dangerous military facilities on the territory of Russia would be destroyed. On the one hand, it would cool down the hot heads in Russia, the generals first of all. Since they perfectly understand what this means. This is one side of the matter. On the other hand, in the event of a strike, and such a threat persists, unfortunately, then I think NATO together with the leadership of Ukraine is preparing to repel such an attack. And we see that in Western Europe, in the Baltic states first of all, in Poland and Romania in particular, they are actively preparing for the Third World War. After all, in case of such Russian behavior, NATO and the USA will really target all Russian military objects and this will finally destroy Russian military and technical potential. The threat of a nuclear weapons strike on Ukraine, in my opinion, remains, but it will cause the Third World War" he said.