Take Putin's nuclear threats seriously - analyst
STORY: Putin's weekend announcement on Russia's heightened nuclear alert posture fanned fears that the invasion of Ukraine could lead to nuclear escalation, with some European officials seeing it as veiled threat to the West.
Putin's foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, was quoted on Wednesday (March 2) warning that a Third World War would be a nuclear conflict, remarks that added to growing unease.
“It's hard to believe that they would carry out that threat, but we have to take into consideration that President Putin has carried out his threats, even though they seem bizarre and seem impossible to understand as to why he would do any of this. So, we have to take it seriously,” Lewis, director of the Chatham House think-tank's international security program told Reuters on Thursday (March 3).
Putin’s actions and appearance have “suggested a mind that was somewhat unhinged”, Lewis said, which has stirred “grave concerns about his state of mind”.
