Margaret Thatcher Aide Warns UK Will “End” Russia After Nuclear Strike – Speaking to Britain’s Daily Express newspaper, a former aide to British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher Nile Gardiner suggested that the United Kingdom could “end” Russia if the Kremlin orders a nuclear strike.
Gardiner, an Oxford University-educated British commentator and Heritage Foundation expert, said that Russian President Vladimir Putin knows that using nuclear weapons would be catastrophic.
“The reality is the use of nuclear weapons by Russia would be the end of Russia, and they know that,” Gardiner told the Express website.
“This has been the state of affairs since World War Two, and every Russian leader since then understands Russia making the first move with a nuclear strike would be the end of Russia.”
Gardiner said that the United Kingdom alone has the power to “cripple” Russia with its own nuclear arsenal, even without the help of the United States.
“In fact, just defence from the UK alone if the Russians strike Britain would mean the end of Russia,” he said.
What Would It Take for Putin to Use Nuclear Weapons?
While most intelligence officials agree that the chance of nuclear war with Russia is still low, previous comments from Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov have already revealed the one situation that would prompt Vladimir Putin to press the red button.
Peskov said in March that Russia would be willing to use its tactical nuclear weapons if the Kremlin perceives there to be an “existential threat” to the country. The Kremlin spokesman later walked back threats of nuclear war, insisting that the so-called “special military operation” in Ukraine was separate from a possible threat to the nation.
Nonetheless, the “existential threat” remains the condition for Russia deploying and possibly using nuclear weapons and it could be on the cards if Ukraine goes ahead with rumored plans to liberate Crimea.
Kristina Kvien, the United States Charge d’Affaires in Ukraine told European Pravda that Ukraine’s success against invading Russian troops so far could set the stage for the country to take back the regions annexed by Russia in 2014.
“So far it seems to me that Ukraine has been very successful in pushing back Russia. They pushed back Russia in North of Kyiv, they have now pushed back Russia around Kharkiv. And it is not illogical to think that Ukraine might be able to push back Russia in other areas which Russia has been able to occupy. We specifically haven’t discussed Crimea and Donbas in terms of our military support,” Kvien said.
British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss also suggested in late April that Ukraine may liberate the “whole of Ukraine.”
If Ukraine were not only able to fend off invading Russian forces in the east but also use weapons and ammunition supplied by NATO to re-take Crimea, might Russia consider it an “existential threat”?
Maybe.
Jack Buckby is a British author, counter-extremism researcher, and journalist based in New York. Reporting on the U.K., Europe, and the U.S., he works to analyze and understand left-wing and right-wing radicalization, and reports on Western governments’ approaches to the pressing issues of today. His books and research papers explore these themes and propose pragmatic solutions to our increasingly polarized society.
