As the war in Ukraine nears the three year mark in March 2025, the United Nations warned that the risk of nuclear weapons use was the highest it had been since the darkest days of the Cold War. In October 2022, U.S. president Joe Biden warned of “the prospect of Armageddon.”
Russia’s nuclear threats have underpinned each stage of the conflict. Assessing Russia’s nuclear threats, and the international responses to them, can shed light on future Russian signaling and its policy implications.
While President Putin’s intentions cannot be definitively discerned, analyzing the Kremlin’s rhetoric is critical for assessing the likelihood of future nuclear use.
How ever Dmitry Medevdev, a senior Russian security official who served as Russia’s president from 2008 to 2012, warned the United States on Saturday to take Russia’s nuclear warnings seriously to avoid world war three.
Medvedev, who serves as deputy chairman of Russia’s security council, told RT broadcaster that top US officials did not want world war three but for some reason they believe “that the Russians will never cross a certain line”.
“They are wrong,” Medvedev told RT, adding that Moscow believed the current U.S. and European political establishments lacked the “foresight and subtlety of mind” displayed by the late Henry Kissinger.
“If we are talking about the existence of our state, as the president of our country has repeatedly said, your humble servant has said, others have said, of course, we simply will not have any choice,” Medvedev said.
Russian officials say the leaders of the West have failed to heed the signals Moscow has sent over European security and the escalation of the war in Ukraine.
U.S. diplomats say the relationship with Russia is worse than at any time since the depths of the Cold War but that Washington does not seek to escalate the war in Ukraine.