Expect more dangerous "nuclear sabre rattling" from Putin.

 In my blog entry of 18 January 2023 I speculated that,

“Is Putin staring into the abyss of declaring war against NATO?” (blog entry : 18 January 2023) 

Hardly had the ink dried on US President Biden and German Chancellor Scholtz giving the ‘green light’ to supplying Abraham’s and Leopard tanks to Ukraine than, as reported by Jack Newman (left),

“Russia is now ‘at war against NATO and the West’ and has taken the invasion of Ukraine to a ‘different stage’, a senior EU official has admitted, raising the terrifying spectre of a global conflict.

The ‘game-changing’ deal among Western leaders to pump sophisticated tanks into the [Ukraine] to blast through the Kremlin’s invading forces has sparked fury in Moscow which has threatened to escalate the war beyond Ukraine’s borders.” (Mail Online : 27 January 2023) (my emphasis)

 MSNBC : 27 January 2023

As Carlo Martuscelli (left) earlier reported,

“Continued deliveries of arms to Ukraine by its allies in the West will lead to retaliation with “more powerful weapons,” a top official in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime said on Sunday.
…
Vyacheslav Volodin, chairman of Russia’s lower house, the State Duma, threatened Europe and the U.S. with “global catastrophe” over their continued military support to the government in Kyiv, which is trying to continue retaking territory it lost in the Russian invasion.

Volodin directly invoked the use of nuclear weapons in his statement over messaging app Telegram.” (Politico : 22 January 2023) (my emphasis)

CNN : 28 January 2023

More significantly, as reported by Sophia Ankel (left),

“A military coup in Russia is likely as President Vladimir Putin is starting to look like a “second-rate dictator,” his former aide said on Thursday.
…
“As problems pile up in the country and the army, that the authorities are unable to solve, Putin is more steadily transforming in people’s eyes from a great strategist to an ordinary, second-rate dictator,” he [Abbas Gallyamov] said. (Yahoo News (Business Insider article) : 27 January 2023) (my emphasis)

Critically, Putin is  having to scramble around to replenish his war machine.

Dmitry Medvedev, Putin’s glove puppet, has been forced to deny that the Russian army is critically running low on missiles and artillery.

As  reported by Jake Cordell,

“Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev hit back on Tuesday at Western reports that Russia is running low on missiles and artillery, saying Moscow’s weapons stocks were enough to continue fighting in Ukraine.

“Our opponents are watching, they periodically make statements that we don’t have this or that … I want to disappoint them. We have enough of everything,” Medvedev said during a visit to a Kalashnikov factory in Izhevsk, around 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) east of Moscow.” (Reuters : 23 January 2023) (my emphasis)

Unfortunately for Medvedev, as reported by CNN, Russia is suffering from serious military equipment shortages.

There are now unverified rumours swirling around the internet that Putin is seeking help from the Taliban.

Whether or not Putin is seeking help from the Taliban, Medvedev, having to hit back at Western reports that Russia is running low on missiles and artillery, does signify that these Western reports have hit a raw nerve regarding the state of Putin’s war machine.

We can, therefore, expect more dangerous ‘nuclear sabre rattling’ from Putin.

(to be continued)