Mitt Romney, the Republican nominee for US president in 2012, raised the alarm in an opinion piece in the New York Times, titled: “We Must Prepare for Putin’s Worst Weapons.” He stressed that the US should be on red alert after Russia’s Foreign Minister warned there is a “serious risk” of the war escalating into a nuclear conflict, adding that “there are few rules left”.
Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of the Security Council of Russia, has also sent a horror nuclear warning, urging NATO to stick its nose out of the conflict or else face a “catastrophic scenario”.
He said: “First, the pumping of Ukraine by NATO countries with weapons, the training of its troops to use Western equipment, the dispatch of mercenaries, and the conduct of exercises by the countries of the Alliance near our borders increase the likelihood of a direct and open conflict between NATO and Russia instead of their ‘war by proxy’.
“Second, such a conflict always has the risk of turning into a full-fledged nuclear war.
“Third, this will be a catastrophic scenario for everyone.”
But Mr Romney does not think the US should hold back on its lethal aid shipments to Ukraine.
He argued: “Free nations must continue to support Ukrainians’ brave and necessary defence of their country.
“Failing to continue to support Ukraine would be like paying the cannibal to eat us last.”
He went on: “The right answer is to continue to give Ukraine all the support it needs to defend itself and to win.
“Its military successes may force Mr Putin to exit Ukraine or to agree to a cease-fire acceptable to the Ukrainian people.”
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And Putin has been unveiling a terrifying arsenal of new nuclear weapons that he could use in an attack.
Russia’s Sarmat II, dubbed “Satan II” by the West, is said to be capable of firing multiple nuclear warheads all at once at staggering speeds.
The Russian Defence Ministry said in a statement it was tested “successfully” in a launch from the Plesetsk cosmodrome in northern Russia last month.
But Pentagon Spokesman John Kirby downplayed the threat of the terrifying weapon, arguing: “Testing is routine, and it was not a surprise.”
He added that the US “has not deemed the test to be a threat to the United States or its allies”.
Mr Kirby said Moscow “properly notified” Washington of the test due to the obligations under the 2011 New START treaty.
This was a pact placing limits on nuclear proliferation which was signed between the two countries.
But Mr Romney pointed out that Putin has said of his nuclear weapons that he “will use them if needed”.
He said the US should prepare for even by imagining the “unimaginable, specifically how we would respond militarily and economically to such a seismic shift in the global geopolitical terrain.”
