Chechnya’s regional leader Ramzan Kadyrov in February 2022.
AP Photo/Musa Sadulayev
Warlord and Putin ally Ramzan Kadyrov called for the use of low-yield nukes.
Putin’s top spokesman responded by calling for “objective assessments” in discussing nuclear war.
The statements come after multiple mentions — veiled or otherwise — of a nuclear strike.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s top spokesman delivered a rebuke to warlord Ramzan Kadyrov on Monday, after Kadyrov called on Russia to use a “low-yield nuclear weapon.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters: “This is a very emotional moment,” according to Reuters. “The heads of regions have the right to express their point of view.”
“But even in difficult moments, emotions should be kept out of any kind of assessment. So we prefer to stick to balanced, objective assessments.”
Peskov had been asked about remarks made on Saturday by Kadyrov, a loyal but outspoken far-right leader of the Chechnya region.
Kadyrov, along with other powerful Putin allies, said that Russia should respond to Ukraine retaking its strategic eastern city of Lyman with “more drastic measures,” per Reuters’ translation of his statement.
That should go “right up to the declaration of martial law in the border areas and the use of low-yield nuclear weapons,” Kadyrov continued.
Peskov said that Russia’s basis for using any nuclear weapons was set down in the country’s law.
Putin and his allies have either directly or indirectly kept the specter of nuclear conflict in international discussion in the last couple of weeks, after the Russian leader on September 21 announced the mobilization of at least 300,000 reservists to the battlefield in Ukraine.
In that announcement, he said that Russia will use “all the means at our disposal,” to protect the country — a veiled reference that he claimed was not a “bluff,” and was soon bolstered by others.
Dmitry Medvedev, former prime minister, took a mocking tone, saying in late September that NATO wouldn’t dare intervene if the country launched a nuke at Ukraine.
However, Medvedev also outlined the circumstances in which Russian law permits a nuclear launch — which were not clearly outlined in Kadyrov’s Saturday statement.
Kadyrov strongly criticized fellow military leaders in their retreat from Lyman, which is considered a major humiliation for Putin.
World leaders and experts are considering whether Russia is likely to use a nuclear weapon, or whether its a bluff or a tactic to get the West to back down from its support for Ukraine.
But they agree that the threat should treated as if it is serious, with both NATO and the US warning Russia that it will face severe consequences if it conducts any nuclear strikes.