President Trump should urgently clarify that any Russian use of nuclear weapons against a NATO member state will result in at least commensurate U.S. nuclear retaliation.

That statement is necessary for two reasons. First, because Russia is developing and deploying low-yield nuclear weapons that it might use for battlefield strikes against NATO military forces. Russia hopes these weapons would allow it to achieve tactical effect (destroying NATO forces) without provoking NATO nuclear retaliation. And while, against Democratic opposition, the Trump administration is rightly developing a U.S. counterforce to the Russian systems, it won’t be deployable for a number of years.

Recommended Stories

Putin ignores two realities with Kaliningrad nuclear threats

Decoding Russian nuclear war propaganda targeting Germany and NATO

The 3 exaggerations of Putin’s new nuclear threats