U.S. officials were quick to respond, calling Putin’s decision to put Russian nuclear forces on high alert dangerous, escalatory, and totally unacceptable, with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg adding that such moves by Putin were aggressive and irresponsible. Despite the U.S. and NATO’s condemnation, experts have seen no obvious changes in Russia’s nuclear posture. When asked on February 28 about the chances of nuclear war breaking out, President Biden replied with a concise “no.”
This view of the unlikelihood that Russia would escalate its current conflict with Ukraine into a full scale nuclear engagement is shared by many military experts and Western officials. The military strategy and national security policy of mutually assured destruction has the acronym M.A.D. for a very good reason.
