On February 28, deputy director of the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security Matthew Kroenig was quoted in an article in the Irish Times titled “West takes seriously Putin’s nuclear weapon threat.” Kroenig asserts that Putin’s heighten nuclear alert is textbook Russian strategy and likely a bluff.
This [Putin’s nuclear alert] really is Russia’s military strategy to backstop conventional aggression with nuclear threats, or what is known as the ‘escalate to de-escalate strategy’.
Matthew Kroenig
Forward Defense leads the Atlantic Council’s US and global defense programming, developing actionable recommendations for the United States and its allies and partners to compete, innovate, and navigate the rapidly evolving character of warfare. Through its work on US defense policy and force design, the military applications of advanced technology, space security, strategic deterrence, and defense industrial revitalization, it informs the strategies, policies, and capabilities that the United States will need to deter, and, if necessary, prevail in major-power conflict.
