Those who dismiss Putin’s nuclear sabre-rattling are missing the point entirely, writes Ivor Bennett of Sky News
In Russia, many people are insulated from the frontlines of the war and it does not affect their daily life There are rowdy bars, gleaming shopping malls, and evening river cruises packed with families desperate to soak up the last of the summer sunshine.
But as embarrassing as that’s been for the Kremlin, there’s no sign of panic. The message from the authorities is that everything is under control, and the public appears to believe them. For some, I think it’s a defence mechanism. Those who oppose the war realise they have little hope of changing anything, so the safest way to deal with it is to stay silent. After all, the price for speaking out has been made abundantly clear.
The recent talk of allowing Ukraine to use long-range missiles to strike deeper inside Russia has been spun to play into this. Nato would be “at war” with Moscow, President Putin said, if the West does give Kyiv the green light. It might be tempting to laugh off this language as yet more sabre-rattling, especially given the number of times Vladimir Putin seems to have redrawn his red lines during the conflict. But I think that misses two important points.
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