海角大神

This week we鈥檙e doing something a little different with this 鈥渋ntro鈥� space. Each day, we鈥檒l address questions, however briefly, that are top of mind as the world confronts the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Be sure, of course, to check out our comprehensive Ukraine coverage in the Daily from correspondents in Ukraine, Europe, the United States, and beyond. You can easily connect with it all by going to our Ukraine page.

To kick things off, I turned to our international editor, Peter Ford, who is based in Paris and was the Monitor鈥檚 Russia bureau chief from 1994 to 1998. My question: What are we to make of President Vladimir Putin鈥檚 nuclear threats?聽Here鈥檚 his answer.

Well, at the very least they have raised the stakes in a situation already fraught with danger.

When Russian troops invaded Ukraine, Mr. Putin warned any countries that tried to stop them that they鈥檇 face 鈥渃onsequences that you have never encountered in your history.鈥� That was seen as a veiled nuclear threat, and yesterday he openly ordered Russia鈥檚 nuclear forces to upgrade into 鈥渁 special mode of combat duty.鈥�

But might he actually order a nuclear strike? To be honest, it鈥檚 hard to be 100% sure; after all, very few analysts expected a wholesale invasion of Ukraine, and look what鈥檚 happened. Mr. Putin may not be unhinged, but recently he has not been acting as predictably and rationally as he once did.

On the whole, though, I think that the prevailing view in the West is that he put his nuclear deterrence force on higher alert so as to tighten the screws of escalation another turn. Perhaps he was hoping to deter Western powers from giving more support to Ukraine.

If that was his aim, he has failed. The European Union agreed Sunday night on an unprecedented military aid package worth 鈧�450 million ($504 million).

Britain鈥檚 defense minister, Ben Wallace, says London鈥檚 assessment is that Mr. Putin is stoking nuclear fears as a red herring, 鈥渢o distract away from his troubles in Ukraine,鈥� where his troops are making slower progress than expected.

Still, whatever the Russian leader has in mind, it鈥檚 hard to disagree with NATO boss Jens Stoltenberg when he says that Mr. Putin鈥檚 nuclear talk is dangerous and irresponsible rhetoric.