Ukraine S Western Partners Are Standing Up To Putin S Nuclear Bluff
The tactic does not appear to be working. Russia’s first veiled threat of nuclear escalation came on September 20, when, in the run-up to a series of illegitimate “referendums” aimed at incorporating the partially occupied Ukrainian regions of Kherson, Zaporizhia, Donetsk, and Luhansk into the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin warned: “If the territorial integrity of our country is threatened, we will certainly use all means at our disposal to protect Russia and our people....