Russia would feel emboldened to use nuclear weapons during clashes with Nato troops because it believes the United States would lack the resolve to respond, a British think tank has warned.
Military setbacks in Ukraine have shaken Moscow’s confidence in its conventional forces and the Kremlin would place an increased importance on its nuclear arsenal during a confrontation with Nato, the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) said.
“Knowing that the West is casualty and risk averse, Russia may seek to use enough non-strategic nuclear weapons to inflict damage preventing its own defeat, knowing that the US would be unwilling to cross the nuclear threshold in retaliation, and may be willing to terminate the conflict early,” the IISS report read.
Non-strategic nuclear weapons are nuclear
