The president of Estonia has said in an interview with Newsweek that it cannot be ruled out that Russian President Vladimir Putin will use nuclear weapons if he finds himself “in a very desperate situation.
However, Alar Karis also told the interview that he is “not very worried” about Russian nuclear weapons, but that he and other Western leaders should “prepare for the possibility of threats and use of nuclear weapons.
Karis:
“There are few people close to Putin who really know. But he is certainly not insane, at least in the medical sense. That means he knows exactly what he’s doing. But there is not much information, you can speculate that if Putin starts changing generals that something is not going the way he wants.
“If Russia gets very desperate, and I wouldn’t say accidental, but maybe even deliberate, they could push a button. But it’s not that easy. It’s not like you have a button in the corner, and then you go push it. There are certain steps that have to be followed.”
The director of U.S. National Intelligence revealed earlier this month that they assess Russia’s use of nuclear weapons as “highly unlikely.
