Putin hires hardline professor who suggested nuking Europe to ‘test NATO’s resolve’ for Kremlin role ‘deterring the West’

Vladimir Putin has rehired a former adviser who previously called on Russia to launch a preemptive nuclear strike on Europe to “test NATO’s resolve.”

Professor Sergei Karaganov, a political scientist hired by the Kremlin to study how to “deter the West,” has said in the past that such an attack on Europe would be the best way to save the world from outright war.

In addition to Putin, the 71-year-old was also a presidential adviser to his predecessor Boris Yeltsin, and is seen as a hugely influential expert on Russian foreign policy.

He is linked to several deep ideas in Russian foreign policy, such as the so-called Karaganov Doctrine – on the rights of ethnic Russians living abroad, and the Putin Doctrine – supporting authoritarian regimes while undermining democracies.

He has also been a staunch supporter of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine from the start, having helped formulate some of the key ideas that led to it in 2022.

Moreover, he has also promoted the idea of ​​a ‘Greater Eurasia’ and defended closer ties with China, while arguing that the era of Western dominance is over.

Putin, he has argued, is right to free the world from the “Western yoke.”

Nevertheless, in an essay for a website on Russian foreign policy last year, Karaganov called for the use of nuclear weapons to destroy “the will of the West.”

He made the extraordinary claim that using such weapons against the West could “save” humanity from the radioactive ruins of full-scale nuclear Armageddon.

He expressed skepticism that the United States would defend Europe in such a case, saying only a “madman” in the White House would sacrifice Boston for Poznan, Poland’s fifth-largest city. “Both the US and Europe understand this very well, even if they prefer not to think about it,” he wrote.

To “rekindle the instinct for self-preservation that the West has lost,” he argued, “Russia will have to make nuclear deterrence a compelling case again by lowering the threshold for the use of nuclear weapons, which has been set unacceptably high, and by quickly but carefully climb the ladder of deterrence and escalation.’

Moreover, he has said that a Russian victory in Ukraine can only be achieved if the West is forced to “strategically withdraw or even surrender.”

He warned that China’s leaders are unlikely to support a pre-emptive strike on Europe, but said Beijing would “rejoice in its hearts that a powerful blow has been dealt to the reputation and position of the United States.”

“Morally, this is a terrible choice because we will use God’s weapon, dooming ourselves to serious spiritual losses. “But if we don’t do this, not only Russia could die, but most likely the entire human civilization will cease to exist,” he said.

It is now believed that Karaganov – a senior academic at the Higher School of Economics in Moscow – has been rehired by the Kremlin.

He will conduct further foreign police investigations for Moscow’s rulers, with an investigation by Russian opposition news site Meduza revealing he has been tasked with eight investigations by Putin’s office and the government.

Although the cost to Russian taxpayers is unclear, a source within the university told Meduza it was “not less than ten million rubles” (about £850,000).

Meduza reported that the topics he is to investigate include: “the theory and practice of nuclear deterrence in the current conditions in relation to Russian politics” and “a dialogue on the development of a new concept of nuclear deterrence in the Quadrilateral Russia -China-India -Pakistan format’.

A source told the Russian publication that the professor would not manage the projects alone, and speculated that the job could be symbolic.

‘There is a feeling at the university that they make sure that certain people are ‘well fed’.’ the source told Meduza.

Last year, in an essay for a Russian foreign policy website, Karaganov called for the use of nuclear weapons to destroy “the will of the West.” Pictured: A file photo shows a Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile being launched by Russia in April 2022

Karaganov has said in the past that he wants Putin’s regime to step up its nuclear rhetoric, which has already sent shivers down the spines in the West.

However, if this does not stop the West from supplying weapons to Ukraine, nuclear attacks will have to be unleashed, he wrote in his essay last year.

People should be warned about “the need to leave their place of residence near objects that could become the target of nuclear attacks in countries that provide direct support to the Kiev regime.”

“The enemy must know that we are prepared to launch a pre-emptive retaliatory strike for all his past and present aggressions to prevent his descent into global thermonuclear war,” he wrote, claiming the West has turned its Cold War fears lost. of Hell’ or ‘Armageddon’ which consists in a full-scale nuclear war.

He advocates the use of suspected tactical nuclear weapons on an initially limited scale to force Western populations to withdraw their leaders in support of Ukraine, by scaring the world about the use of such weapons to destroy the planet.

‘The fear of nuclear escalation must be restored. Otherwise, humanity is doomed,” said the professor, who is also honorary chairman of the Russian Presidium of the Council for Foreign and Defense Policy.

“But what if they don’t back down? [and if the West has] completely lost your sense of self-preservation?

‘Than [Russia] will have to hit a group of targets in a number of countries to bring the lost back to their senses.

“This is a morally terrible choice: we use the weapons of God and condemn ourselves to serious spiritual losses.

‘But if this does not happen, not only Russia will perish, but most likely the entire human civilization will perish. We will have to make this choice.’

Russian military vehicles, including Yars intercontinental ballistic missile launchers, roll across Red Square during the Victory Day military parade in central Moscow on May 9, 2024

Separately, he wrote in an article for Profile magazine: ‘In the end, the winners are not judged. And the rescuers are thanked.’

Karaganov admits in his chilling analysis that Putin’s bloodbath war has so far failed to subdue Kiev – and is costing countless lives of Russians and Ukrainians.

“We can fight for another two or three years, sacrificing thousands and thousands of our best men and crushing tens and hundreds of thousands of people who fell into the tragic historical trap of the inhabitants of the territory now called Ukraine,” he said. he. wrote.

“This military operation cannot end in a decisive victory without imposing a strategic retreat or even capitulation on the West. We must force the West to abandon its attempts to reverse history, abandon its attempts at global dominance, and force it to fend for itself and digest its current multi-level crisis.”

His analysis echoes the rantings of pro-Putin TV propagandists.

Yet he is seen as a Moscow academic giant close to the dictator and a key mapmaker of Russian foreign strategy, who now has Putin’s direct ear.

Karaganov is the founder of the Kremlin President’s beloved Valdai Club and also holds the position of academic supervisor of the Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs of the Russian Higher School of Economics.

Ignoring the fact that Putin started the war in Ukraine, he said: “By breaking the West’s will for aggression, we will not only save ourselves and ultimately free the world from the Western yoke that has lasted five centuries, but we will also save all humanity. .’

He is an architect of the strategy that led Putin to invade Ukraine.

He once emphasized: ‘Russia is genetically an authoritarian power.

“Russia’s authoritarianism was not imposed from above, but is the result of our history that has shaped our genetic code.”

Fears of Russian nuclear weapons have increased since the invasion of Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers a speech during the Victory Day military parade on Red Square in central Moscow on May 9, 2024

Moscow has the largest stockpile of such weapons in the world – an estimated 5,580 nuclear warheads – even more than the United States.

To remind the West of this, earlier this year Putin made a test flight in an updated nuclear-capable Tu-160M ​​strategic bomber, which he described as “excellent.”

Moreover, a Financial Times investigation found that Russia’s threshold for using nuclear weapons is lower than it publicly claims.

Scenarios in which it might consider deploying the devastating weapons include enemy forces invading Russian territory or the defeat of Russian border forces.