However, the cheget is relevant to the strategic nuclear forces, the intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) launched from land or sea, or long-range bombers. In the Russian system, the Minister of Defense and the Chief of the General Staff have their own checks but it is believed that Putin can order a launch without them.

In the US it is called football, in Russia it is the cheget.

Like US presidents, Putin is normally accompanied by an aide who carries a briefcase with codes used to authorize a nuclear launch. Related: Everything You Wanted To Know About Nuclear War But Were Too Afraid To Ask Past wargaming suggests there would be fierce debate within the government to say the least. On the American side, despite the US president’s apocalyptic language during a private fundraising drive on Thursday night, it is by no means inevitable that Washington would respond to Putin’s nuclear use with nuclear retaliation. Nor can he be absolutely sure that the weapons and their delivery systems would work. If his primary goal is to stay in power, that could be exactly the wrong way to go.Įven if he has issued the launch order, he has no guarantee that it will be carried out. It is far from certain that Putin would be willing to be the first wartime leader to use nuclear weapons since 1945, because of his territorial ambitions in Ukraine.

However, the reality underlying the menacing vocabulary is a much grayer area than the fuss suggests. The past week has seen a rapid escalation of nuclear rhetoric, starting with Vladimir Putin’s threat to use “all forces and resources” to defend newly taken territory in Ukraine and ending with Joe Biden’s warning of “Armageddon.” when Russia crosses the nuclear Rubicon.

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