An attack on a small Russian town in Mordovia may have crossed a nuclear 'red line'. of Vladimir Putin, writes Newsweek.
In the Russian city of Kovilkino is located 29B6 “Container” - an over-the-horizon radar that monitors the airspace thousands of kilometers away. The publication commented that Ukraine carried out a drone attack in the area.
It is not completely clear whether the attack was successful, but the radar in question is one of the most important military installations of the Russian Federation, because it serves as an early warning and its decommissioning directly affects the work of the Russian nuclear forces.
If the radar system was affected, the Ukrainian attacks may have met one of the “conditions determining the possibility of the Russian Federation using nuclear weapons”, as outlined in Putin's 2020 presidential decree. Russia's doctrine states , that the Federation could use a nuclear weapon.
Mk.ru writes that this corresponds to point 18 of paragraph III - “Conditions for the transition of the Russian Federation to the use of nuclear weapons“ from “Fundamentals of State Policy in the Field of Nuclear Deterrence“.
Putin and his top officials have repeatedly warned of a nuclear showdown in Europe if the federation's national security is threatened. In March, Putin said that Western (NATO) countries “must realize that we also have weapons that can hit targets on their territory”. He added: “All this really threatens conflict with the use of nuclear weapons and the destruction of civilization. Don't they understand that?".
The threat of nuclear escalation has proved a powerful tool for the Kremlin in its attempts to halt Western aid to Ukraine. The Kremlin claims that the Russian army is waging an existential war against NATO, although none of the member countries have sent their troops to Ukrainian territory, although according to Macron such a scenario is possible in the future.