Putin sends chilling assertion to the West

Vladimir Putin issuing a worrying statement this week as tensions continue to Fester between the U.S and Russia saying quote in the event of a third world war there will be no winners including America now this comes as Russia escalates their military offensive in Ukraine the president of Belarus meanwhile has confirmed that his.

Country received tactical nuclear weapons from Russia so how concerned should we be especially as Putin reportedly tells the West to go to hell at the same time joining us now with reaction is former U.S defense intelligence officer and author of Putin's Playbook Rebecca Coughlin Rebecca great to see you this morning.

Great to see you all what do you make of this uh not just saber rattling but um almost taking the saber out of its sheet in terms of Vladimir Putin's sending nuclear weapons to Belarus this is a very concerning development it's strategic messaging by Putin to Washington to back out of Ukraine to stop arming Ukraine because it is driven.

By fear of losing this war that he cannot afford because the outcome of this war is existential for him Russia considers Ukraine as part of a strategic security perimeter and it cannot allow NATO to get as close just like we wouldn't allow China or Russia or Iran to get close as close to Mexico Canada so that is why Putin is.

Overreacting Rebecca that that's that's incredibly honestly terrifying you know Vladimir Putin to consider what's happening Ukraine an existential threat and for him to begin to talk about the use of nuclear weapons and to extend your analogy of what if Russia were doing something in Mexico or Cuba what is the off-ramp we can put on screen by.

The way the number of nuclear weapons at at any hand for given countries Russia's got the most at the top yeah so what's the off ramp for him facing an existential threat so right now no one is even talking about Opera ah well in fact it's quite the opposite it may a senior NATO official Rob Bauer announced that NATO has switched the.

Alliance to wartime footing what does it mean NATO countries are coming through thousands of classified documents uh War plans and looking for guidance on how to beef up their own defenses and how to actually fight the war with Russia and this is why Putin is overreacting Putin has always thought and the Kremlin dead and the general staff that we are.

Seeking regime change in Russia everyone hates Putin it is an unlikable guy and that is why he has prepared this terrifying Doctrine he and the general staff this is similar to our Joint Chiefs right they are looking for vulnerabilities in U.S communication networks and U.S critical and infrastructure in your satellites and.

This is why you see these cyber Espionage Cyber attack including on our department of energy that manages our nuclear infrastructure and sets our nuclear policy yeah that reflects something we saw this week by the way several U.S federal agencies as you mentioned hit by a global Cyber attack carried out by Russian link groups but.

Let's let's finish this conversation with the the larger question which I just I find unavoidable throughout this conversation which is okay we've got a man who considers this entire relationship this entire War this entire interaction existential correct and if he if at the end of this story it's the.

End of Putin then he will no doubt use nuclear weapons to remain in existence to remain in power to remain alive the US has to find a way for that not to be the case because nuclear war cost as he points out is a no-win situation even for America absolutely well the first thing to clarify to Americans is that Russia is not targeting U.S Homeland.

With nuclear weapons right the doctrine was developed for Putin to authorize the nuclear strike on the battlefield in Ukraine the problem is with this thinking is this as War gaming shows and uh as you said I'm a former Dia intelligence officer and we conducted dozens of War games simulating and U.S Russia conflict right and so once the.

First tactical even if it's tactical uh Nook gets popped on the battlefield no one everybody is going to overreact because as all of these states that own nuclear weapons have missile Warning Systems tracking that stuff yeah and then the dominoes Begin to Fall exactly you just nailed the spins out of control every war game has shown not to feel.

Like The Dominoes have already begun to fall Rebecca exactly and we need to pay attention and President Biden needs to sit down and negotiate and instead what happened two years ago he handed to Putin a list of 16 critical infrastructure targets you can't make this out this was such a foolish move and the Russians developed a strategic.

Operation to defeat critical infrastructure of the adversary targeting U.S Homeland because they believe if they can't use nukes they can use cyber against the US they consider it a non-nuclear without nuclear mushroom important and ominous conversation this morning Rebecca Koffler thank you so much for your.

Insight thank you for having me all right I'm Steve Ducey I'm Brian Kilmeade and I'm Ainsley Earhart and click here to subscribe to the Fox News YouTube page to catch our hottest interviews and most compelling analysis

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