"The West will either honestly call Putin a nuclear terrorist, or he will intensify hybrid blackmail": Latynina on upcoming IAEA report on Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant

Russian journalist, writer, and political analyst Yulia Latynina shared the details with Mozhem Obyasnit Telegram channel. 

The Russian opposition leader believes that Raphael Grossi's admission to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is 'feeling the ground under his feet'. It is important for Putin to understand whether the IAEA, and now the collective West, will see nuclear terrorism in his actions, or 'responsibly declare' that everything is ambiguous.

"Grossi's speech before the members of the UN Security Council and the subsequent behavior of the IAEA are extremely important. It now depends on this whether Putin will be able to continue his nuclear blackmail and hybrid war games, or whether the West will finally muster the will to call nuclear terrorists nuclear terrorists," Latynina explained. 

Putin is still thinking and his further actions depend on this marker.

"That's why there is still no trial against Azov soldiers, so hated by Putin for the defense of Donbas - with another drowning of his reputation in blood, Putin now prefers to wait. Although it would seem that he started the war because of 'neonazis'?", the expert added. 

She also warns that the West may follow the same path as in the perception of Russia's aggression towards Georgia:

"When Putin went to war with Georgia in 2008, the International Commission of Inquiry into the Circumstances of the War, led by Heidi Tagliavini, received a grant of EUR 1.6 million, and produced a report, the gist of which came down to the following: Russia says that Georgia is shooting, Georgia says that Russia is shooting, and we, as an authoritative international organization, responsibly declare to you that everything here is ambiguous."

And this will be a sign for Putin that it is possible to push further - the West will give in and eventually come to terms:

"14 years have passed, and not much has changed. Just as in 2008 the Russian army shelled Tskhinvali, talking about the fact that Georgians were shelling themselves, so in 2022 it will raze Mariupol to the ground, trumpeting on all channels about the crimes of the Ukrainian military. Just like 14 years ago, Putin again needs people abroad who are able to keep him politically offshore."