Russia may return to idea of nuclear strike on Ukraine under threat of losing Crimea - Newsweek 

This is reported by the Newsweek publication.

The presence of such conversations is mentioned in emails received by the publication with the help of a Russian human rights activist, the head of an anti-corruption website Gulagu.net, Vladimir Osechkin. It was to his email address that a whistleblower from the FSB going by the nickname Wind of Change"sent information about what was happening in Kremlin and its law enforcement agencies. The letters came months before Putin threatened that Russia was ready to use nuclear weapons to protect its "territorial integrity."

Newsweek writes that the informant then expressed doubt that Putin would do this since Russia "would also be on the receiving end." He said that although the conflict with neighboring Ukraine was "somewhere beyond logic and common sense," all those who participated in the discussions hoped that "outright foolishness will not be committed," referring to the use of nuclear weapons. In addition, the Wind of Change noted that the use of tactical nuclear weapons against Ukraine will mean "Russia’s defeat" in the eyes of both opponents and neutral countries.

"Such a powerful argument for a local conflict would demonstrate military weakness, which not even military success could override," writes an informant from the Federal Security Service.

In addition, he suggested that the Kremlin's chain of command would block Putin if he tried to order a nuclear strike. At the same time, according to the publication, Putin did not participate in these discussions.

Newsweek claimed, he is the only one who can make a decision on the use of such weapons, regardless of the opinion of the generals. But the very fact of such discussions raises concerns for the White House.

US President Joe Biden said in the fall that the risk of nuclear "Armageddon" reached the highest level since the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 when many feared that a nuclear war could be inevitable. However, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan noted that Washington and Moscow held talks aimed at easing rhetoric around Russia's potential use of nuclear weapons.

Max Bergmann, director of the European program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), assessed conversations around the use of nuclear weapons in Russia's war against Ukraine. He told Newsweek that, in his opinion, Putin is now desperately looking for some way to try to change this conflict.

"There's a lot of frustration that you have, if you're Russian, this huge reserve of nuclear weapons, which is sort of now your claim to great power status. But they're kind of irrelevant — you can't really use them, all you can do is sort of threaten to use them," Bergmann said.

At the same time, he warned that if Ukraine continues to achieve significant success and approaches Crimea, Russia may seriously return to its nuclear threats.

US officials said they saw no evidence that Russian forces were moving nuclear weapons or taking other tactical measures to prepare for a strike. At the same time, insiders from the Biden administration claim that US officials are not reassured by Putin's words. They believe that the risk of using nuclear weapons will increase when Moscow runs out of its forces and conventional weapons in Ukraine.