NATO’s sabre-rattling

The protracted war in Ukraine is set to enter a critical phase as both Russia and NATO are getting ready to hold nuclear exercises. Though these drills are an annual affair, they will be subjected to intense scrutiny and suspicion this year amid the backdrop of the ongoing conflict. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has warned Russian President Vladimir Putin that he would be crossing a ‘very important line’ if he were to order the use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine. Stoltenberg has announced that the NATO drills would go ahead as scheduled because cancelling them would have sent a ‘very wrong signal’. He has observed that even the use of a smaller nuclear weapon will be ‘a very serious thing, fundamentally changing the nature of the war in Ukraine, and of course that would have consequences’.

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Stoltenberg’s remarks suggest that a retaliatory nuclear strike by NATO is not ruled out. This sabre-rattling could provoke Russia into making a mutually destructive move rather than deterring it from using N-weapons. Though Ukraine is not even a member of the US-led multilateral organisation, the Secretary-General has said that Russia’s victory would be a defeat for NATO. He needs to remember that NATO’s expansion agenda was a key flashpoint that triggered the Russia-Ukraine war. The invasion could have been averted had Russia baiters not crossed a ‘very important line’ themselves.

The alliance has said that it would monitor Russia’s drills very closely, as it has done for decades. NATO should indeed confine itself to this practice instead of stepping up tensions with its nuclear rhetoric. With the N-weapons under the organisation’s ambit being controlled by the US, the UK and France, these three member countries should go all out to allay global apprehensions and facilitate de-escalation. Neutral nations such as India can do their bit to soothe frayed tempers on both sides. Meanwhile, Putin seems to be taking his country and the world towards a disastrous path by refusing to offer a ceasefire and instead constantly upping the nuclear ante in a war that looks unwinnable.