It is time for Washington to stop giving these threats undue weight and instead expose their hollowness.
It is time for Washington to stop giving these threats undue weight and instead expose their hollowness.
T wo days after President Donald Trump announced that the U.S. and NATO allies would supply advanced weapons to Ukraine, the Kremlin responded with nuclear threats. Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, reminded Washington that “Russia’s nuclear doctrine remains in effect, and thus, all its provisions continue to apply.”
While Peskov’s comments may spark concern among U.S. officials, they represent nothing more than an example of an age-old Kremlin psychological operation to deter Washington. The Trump administration should not fall for Putin’s saber-rattling.
For Russia’s military, nukes are cognitive weapons. During the Cold War, Russia developed “reflexive control” techniques that use information operations to influence its adversary’s decision-making to alter the perception of the nuclear balance and thereby influence American politics.
In this vein, last year, Russia reportedly changed its nuclear doctrine, which allows Russia to view any attack by a non-nuclear country supported by a nuclear power as a joint attack.
Today, Russia is again exploiting the United States’ fear of nuclear retaliation for Western military actions as a form of cognitive manipulation, hoping threats are sufficient to deter the United States from helping Ukraine against Russian aggression. The full Kremlin narrative paints the United States as a warmongering giant whose actions could lead to a war in which Russia would need to use nuclear weapons in its own defense.
Russia has repeatedly declared red lines with explicit nuclear threats attached. In June, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev lamented the U.S. strike on Iran’s nuclear arsenal, warning President Donald Trump that “a number of countries are ready to directly supply Iran with their own nuclear warheads.” Following the strikes, Sergei Lavrov echoed these sentiments, warning that “World War III could be very close.”
While these threats of World War III are concerning, they are nothing new; the Kremlin has used the threat of nuclear war against the West since the invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022. Despite the threats and the continued U.S. involvement in Ukraine’s defense, no nuclear actions have occurred.
Despite Russia’s never following through on its threats, the United States under President Biden was constantly cowed by Russia’s claims. In 2022, when Biden was deliberating sending long-range missiles to Ukraine, Putin warned that such action would result in nuclear escalation, and again in September 2022, Putin warned the West to take his threats of nuclear war seriously. President Joe Biden certainly did. In explaining his decision to limit the Ukrainian use of U.S. weapons, Biden warned the American people that they faced the threat of “Armageddon” over Ukraine.
The Trump administration, too, had previously been a victim of Putin’s mind games and leftover Soviet policies. The threats have been so effective that Trump has also warned that because of the Ukraine war, the United States could be drawn into World War III, which he contended is “looming.”
The correct response to this nuclear posturing is to push back and call the Russians out. Recently, President Trump did just that, criticizing Medvedev’s recent comments about countries supplying Iran with their own nuclear weapons as absurd, and upbraiding Medvedev for throwing around “the N word (Nuclear!)” so “casually.” Medvedev responded by backing down, stating that Russia has “no intention” to supply Iran with nuclear weapons.
Going forward, this is exactly how U.S. officials should deal with Russia’s nuclear threats. By confronting them, the Russians will expose their emptiness. In addition to calling Russia’s bluff, President Trump should remind Russia of the size and strength of America’s own nuclear arsenal and the terrible consequences any nuclear attack would elicit.
The current round of Russian nuclear brinkmanship has lasted three years, with Moscow threatening to cross a line that hasn’t been crossed since 1945. It is time for Washington to stop giving these threats undue weight and instead expose their hollowness.
Ivana Stradner is a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Mark Montgomery is a retired Navy surface warfare officer who commanded a destroyer, a destroyer squadron, and a carrier strike group. He is currently a senior fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies.