Moscow Rejects Nuland Claim that U.S. Threats Prevented Russian Use of Nuclear Weapons in Kiev

Dec. 5, 2022 (EIRNS)—Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland claimed during her visit to Kiev this past weekend that the reason why Russian President Vladimir Putin hasn’t used nuclear weapons in Ukraine was because of “harsh warnings” issued from Washington. “Russia has already made itself a pariah at the international level, but we made it crystal clear that the use of nuclear weapons would have dire consequences and face our firm response. After that, Russia switched to different tactics, launching attacks on the energy infrastructure of Ukraine,” Nuland said on Dec. 3. “Ukraine is winning this war, Putin is losing it, and we keep supporting you,” she concluded.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova (in Russian) rejected Nuland’s claim in a sharply worded statement.

“Victoria Nuland has succeeded in defeating herself once again: first, controlled media and think tanks hyped up the threat of nuclear war coming from Russia, and now they are making attempts to shift the blame onto someone else by claiming that allegedly a nuclear Armageddon did not occur due to ‘harsh warnings’ while ignoring the fact that no one on this side of the border actually planned to unleash one,”

she wrote in an opinion posted from her Telegram account and on the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Telegram channel. “We have repeatedly confirmed Russia’s stance on preventing a nuclear war, in particular, in a recent statement which was specifically translated into English for those working in the U.S. Department of State,” referring to the Ministry’s statement on prevention of nuclear war.

She continued:

“As to the ‘unacceptability of strikes on the energy infrastructure,’ Nuland is in no position to lecture the world: only the U.S.A. and NATO jointly have destroyed more energy networks than the U.S.A. alone. Then-spokesperson for NATO Jamie Shea admitted this during the bombing of Yugoslavia, which I have written about just recently.”

Zakharova concludes by citing a 1994 academic thesis, entitled “Strategic Attack of National Electrical Systems,” by one Major Thomas Griffith, U.S. Air Force, writing: “By the way, in 1994, U.S. Air Force Major Thomas Griffith defended his dissertation entitled ‘Strategic Attack of National Electrical Systems,’ apparently already then preparing for the Yugoslav events.”

Griffith had written: “The United States Air Force has long favored attacking electrical power systems. Electric power has been considered a critical target in every war since World War II, and will likely be nominated in the future.” Griffith’s paper questions whether the targeting of electrical power generating and distribution systems could accomplish what U.S. strategic bombing doctrine of the time claimed it would.