Russia must be close to collapsing for them to be saying this sort of thing. Remember, nukes require all sorts of expensive things to work. Things that get stolen or scammed in a kleptocracy like Russia. Putin cannot depend on real knowledge of his arsenals readiness. Lots if not most all of his nukes won’t work. But almost all of the West’s will. Does even a crazy man risk it under this situation?
Russia must be close to collapsing for them to be saying this sort of thing. Remember, nukes require all sorts of expensive things to work. Things that get stolen or scammed in a kleptocracy like Russia. Putin cannot depend on real knowledge of his arsenals readiness. Lots if not most all of his nukes won’t work. But almost all of the West’s will. Does even a crazy man risk it under this situation?