Russia’s ‘nuclear saber-rattling’ is part of Kremlin campaign to influence Western decision-makers - ISW

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said this in its latest report, according to Ukrinform.

ISW recalled that the Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) claimed on May 21 that missile elements of the Southern Military District (SMD) began the first stage of non-strategic (tactical) nuclear weapons exercises. The Russian MoD claimed that Russian Aerospace Forces will also exercise with Iskander ballistic missiles and Kinzhal aeroballistic missiles.

Experts also said that a prominent Kremlin-awarded milblogger explicitly tied Russian tactical nuclear weapons exercises to Kremlin efforts to influence Western decision-making — particularly targeting the recent discussions about the restrictions on Ukraine's use of Western-provided weapons to strike military targets in Russia

“[This is] echoing ISW's assessment that Russia's tactical nuclear weapons tests are part of a Kremlin reflexive control campaign that often uses nuclear saber-rattling to influence Western decision-makers to engage in self-deterrence,” the report says.

At the same time, ISW continues to assess that US and Western policies limiting Ukraine's ability to strike military targets in Russia are “severely compromising Ukraine's ability to defend itself against current Russian offensive operations in northern Kharkiv Oblast or any area along the international border where Russian forces may choose to conduct offensive operations in the future.”

As reported by Ukrinform, on May 6, Russia announced an exercise "to increase the readiness of non-strategic nuclear forces to perform combat missions." On May 21, the Russian military began the first stage of the exercise with practical training in the preparation and use of non-strategic nuclear weapons.