Former CIA director and retired Army four-star general David Petraeus warned on Sunday that the US military would destroy the Russian military if it used nuclear weapons on Ukrainian soil.
“Just to give a hypothesis, we would respond by leading a NATO effort – collective – that would eliminate every Russian conventional force that we can see and identify on the battlefield in Ukraine and also in Crimea and every ship in the Black Sea,” Petraeus said. “ABC This Week” host Jon Karl.
The warning comes after Putin and other members of his inner circle – including Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov – have expressed support for the use of nuclear weapons.
Petraeus added that while NATO’s response would be in order in the event of a Russian nuclear attack, the situation would not necessarily invoke NATO Article 5, which stipulates that if a NATO ally is the victim of an armed attack, every single other NATO member would come to his defense.
“There is no want, again, to enter into a nuclear escalation. But it has to be shown that this cannot be accepted in any way,” Petraeus said in relation to Russia’s recent annexation of four western Ukraine regions.
Russian nuclear threats
As the Ukraine-Russia war enters its eighth month, Russia has increased its defensive rhetoric, with some prominent members of the Russian government calling for potential nuclear action.
“Those who try to blackmail us with nuclear weapons should know that the wind may turn in their direction,” Russian President Vladimir Putin warned in a pre-recorded speech in late September. “When the territorial integrity of our country is threatened, we will certainly use all means at our disposal to protect Russia and our people… This is not bluffing.”
Putin’s comments may be the most significant, but they are not the only such comments recently made by Russian leaders regarding the possibility of a nuclear conflict. Russia’s ambassador to the United States, Anatoly Antonov, called on the United States and Western powers to stop threatening Russia’s territorial integrity and stop collaborating with the Ukrainian armed forces – noting that the risk of nuclear conflict remains – in an article of opinion of September 28. A few days later, controversial Chechen dictator Ramzan Kadyrov said “low-yield” nuclear weapons should be used in annexed and disputed territories, going so far as to criticize Moscow for being too “soft.”
Petraeus, the retired four-star general who was CIA director from Sept. 6, 2011, until his resignation on Nov. 9, 2012, said the US military establishment was unfazed by the comments. “It can still be worse for Putin and for Russia. And even the use of tactical nuclear weapons on the battlefield will not change this at all,” Petraeus said, advocating that Russia sit at the negotiating table with Ukraine.
Information of: The Jerusalem Post
