Russian Senior Journalist Rostovsky: The West Is Undeterred By Russian Nuclear Threats

The May 30, 2023 Ukrainian drone attack on Moscow confirmed the accuracy of the title of the column by senior commentator Mikhail Rostovsky in Moskovskiy Komsomolets, published a week ago: "America Backs Attack on Belgorod: It Will Be Even Harsher to Come." The daring cross-border raid ostensibly mounted by Russians opposed to Putin on the border region was seen by Rostovsky as proof that America will not rein in Ukrainian "terrorism". Everything Kyiv does is permissible, he claimed, provided it serves the goal of "inflicting maximum military, economic, political and moral damage on Russia". The Americans ideally want to achieve these ends while shedding direct responsibility, he wrote.

Having fulfilled his duty of attacking American duplicity, Rostovsky subtly attacks Russian policy makers, who thought to deter Western involvement in the war by invoking the threat of nuclear war. According to Rostovsky, the West has called Russia's bluff, knowing that Russia will not use nuclear weapons unless the country's very existence is threatened.

Rostovsky's column follows below:[1]

Ukrainian attack on Belgorod - a prelude of harsher things to come (Source Kommersant.ru)

"America supported the attack on Belgorod, albeit not directly, but quite unequivocally. The U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said, 'We have made very clear to the Ukrainians that we don't enable or encourage attacks outside Ukrainian borders. But I do think it's important to take a step back and remind everyone, the world, that of course it's Russia who launched this war... It is up to Ukraine to decide how they want to conduct their military operations.'

"'We don't encourage,' but at the same time 'we don't condemn.'

"Taken together, these two add up to an American green light for virtually any Ukrainian military, sabotage and terrorist attack. The only exception is actions capable of provoking Russia to use nuclear arms.

"Washington's political and operational control over official Kyiv is not total and absolute. As Vassily Kashin, a renowned SVO [Special Military Operation] expert, noted in his recent article published in Russia in Global Politics magazine, the Americans 'have difficulties getting full information about the situation on the ground. In many cases, the U.S. has to deal with lies, distortions, and concealment of information by the Ukrainian side, which is partly offset by the conduct of full-scale intelligence activities against a Ukrainian ally. Americans are concerned about the escalation of corruption in Ukraine that was recorded during the conflict but are far from being able to get officials suspected of embezzling Western aid fired.'

"Ah, the infamous Ukrainian corruption! Even the Americans can't get a handle on it! However, from the point of view of U.S. political leadership, all these problems are of a purely technical nature and are only a 'fly in the ointment.' Whoever supplies arms and finances the 'girl' gets the right to 'dance with her.'

"Provided the Americans really wanted to curb the terrorist proclivities of Kyiv's security forces, they would be able to do so without any problem (okay, perhaps even despite some problems). But nothing of the sort is happening, because the U.S. has absolutely no need for it.

"The current American approach to the Ukrainian conflict can be described in terms of a famous anecdote I first heard a quarter-century ago from then-Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin, 'We want to have everything and not to get punished for it!'

"'We want to have everything' in this case means inflicting maximum military, economic, political and moral damage on Russia. Any actions that fit into this category are, in Washington's perception, both permissible and desirable, and even necessary. Naturally, there is still a detectable desire in the U.S. and other Western countries not to directly endorse actions that are difficult to assess as anything other than terrorism. For instance, many Western media outlets report not that Belgorod Oblast was attacked by Ukrainian subversive and reconnaissance groups, but that some 'Russian anti-Putin rebels' allegedly also appeared in the oblast. It's clear to everyone that this is a fiction, a sort of subtle, almost invisible, 'ideological padding.'

"The only thing that really concerns the U.S., as mentioned above, is 'to not get punished for it.' And the implication behind this 'nothing' is the use of nuclear arms.

"Here is a very typical excerpt from an article in the influential American Politico online newspaper: 'Aleksander Grushko, Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister, warned that Western countries deploying F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine would expose themselves to "enormous risks" But this is the same signal Moscow is sending in response to each new phase of Western support [to Kyiv], the Kremlin is running out of means for further escalation.'

Aleksander Grushko (Source: Ria.ru)

"'There's not much they can do,' argued Seth Jones, a research fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, 'I believe it demonstrates that the fears that in my opinion a number of government officials had, regarding how the Russians might respond to more advanced arms simply haven't been confirmed.'

"[The claim that] the Kremlin is running out of ways to further escalate [the situation] is, certainly, not quite accurate. There is one way: the use of nuclear arms. And this method has its supporters within the Russian expert community.

"Observing the recent session of the Foreign and Defense Policy Council, I was struck by the willingness and enthusiasm with which some fairly well-known figures proposed using this very option. But this is the stance of some hotheads, or, to put it more clearly, certain figures, who have somehow stopped using their heads for their intended purpose.

"Nuclear arms are the most extreme option that can only be used upon a direct threat to the country's existence. Understanding this, the Westerners frolic in their policy of increasingly pushing the boundaries within which official Kyiv can act."