Putin proves large-scale war can be fought without nuclear weapons, says Portnikov

This was stated by journalist Vitaliy Portnikov in an interview with Espreso.

Speaking about the prospect of a World War III with the use of nuclear weapons, host Antin Borkovsky reminded that after World War II, despite tense relations between countries, nuclear war was avoided.

Portnikov drew an analogy from history and said that it is repeating itself now.

"We know everything that will happen. History is an exact science. Neither Trump nor Putin can change it. Yes, you talk about nuclear weapons, but in principle, we have reached a situation where Putin has proven – and this is, by the way, a completely new story – that you can fight using conventional weapons without using nuclear ones. You can wage a great war without nuclear weapons," said the journalist.

According to him, nuclear weapons as a deterrent can be used as a tool for preserving the sovereignty of the players.

"What is the point of nuclear weapons? The sovereignty of the Russian Federation (nothing threatens it), the United States, and China is preserved. Then you can look at the situation differently: there will be a war, but strikes will be delivered on the territory of enemy countries using non-nuclear weapons. And nuclear weapons will be used to strike the territory of allied countries. For example, the United States may use a nuclear bomb to destroy a Russian base in Belarus. And the Russian Federation may drop nuclear weapons on Ramstein. That’s how it could be. This is also an option," Portnikov said.

• Recently, Defense Minister Pete Hegseth said that he does not rule out providing nuclear weapons to Ukraine, but noted that this decision ultimately depends on U.S. President Donald Trump.
• At the same time, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed the belief that giving up nuclear weapons should have only happened in exchange for real security guarantees, which at that time were provided by NATO.
• Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio believes that the demand to transfer nuclear weapons to Ukraine in exchange for its refusal to join NATO as part of peace talks with Russia is not a serious proposal and does not resolve issues with the Russian Federation.