Response to Nuclear Weapons Threat
Kiesewetter calls for more deterrence
10/02/2022 03:02 am
Russian President Putin has repeatedly alluded to the use of nuclear weapons in the war against Ukraine. CDU politician Kiesewetter believes this is hybrid warfare intended to unsettle people in the West. He demands an antidote.
In view of the Russian threats of nuclear weapons, the CDU foreign politician Roderich Kiesewetter believes that western countries need to step up their deterrence. “Certainly we have to take this seriously, and of course there is always such a risk,” he told Berlin’s Tagesspiegel, referring to threats by Russian President Vladimir Putin to use “all available resources” if necessary. “But we can prevent this by increasing our own deterrence and countering Putin with strength and unity.”
According to Kiesewetter, Putin’s threat is not new. It is “a means of hybrid warfare” “to unsettle our population and to divide the rule-based states”. Kiesewetter warned against giving in to Putin. In the long run, using such weapons would “completely isolate Russia, also from its current partners or at least neutral states like China or India,” he said. “That’s why we mustn’t let ourselves be fooled.”
The threats by Russian President Putin with nuclear weapons must be taken seriously, Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht told ARD during her visit to Odessa in Ukraine. She “advises everyone not to trivialize it”. However, it should not lead to “that we let ourselves be paralyzed”. There are fears in the West that Putin might resort to nuclear weapons in the face of severe military setbacks in Ukraine. The Russian President has repeatedly threatened the use of nuclear weapons.