How Should the U.S. Respond to Putin’s Nuclear Provocation?
Putin’s order to raise Russia’s nuclear-alert status is aimed as much at a domestic audience as it is at the West.
by Tom Nichols
Feb 27, 2022
3 minutes
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Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered Russia’s strategic nuclear forces to raise their alert status. (Specifically, he has ordered Russia’s “strategic deterrence forces” to “transition to special regime of combat duty.”)
If Russia’s alerts look anything like ours, this means that the crews and institutions that control strategic missiles, submarines, and bombers will be told to make preparedness a higher priority. They will cancel leaves, conduct inspections, check their communications, and so on, and their intelligence organizations will
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