The West knows what to expect: Russian President Vladimir Putin during a speech in Moscow on Wednesday.Image: Pavel Bednyakov/EPA
analysis
Once again, the Kremlin claims that Ukraine, thanks to Western complicity, is planning to use a nuclear bomb – in order to threaten nuclear retaliation itself. An analysis.
Feb 26, 2026, 9:08 p.mFeb 26, 2026, 9:28 p.m
bojan stula / ch media
On the fourth anniversary of the Russian attack on Ukraine, Moscow once again lit a nuclear smokescreen. The foreign secret service SVR claimed in a statement that Great Britain and France were preparing to deliver a nuclear bomb to Kiev; and if not a real one, then at least a smaller “dirty bomb”. Evidence? No.
The message was nevertheless clear: Dmitri Medvedev, deputy head of the Russian Security Council and spokesman for the nuclear threat since the beginning of the war, took up the unproven allegations and threatened a “radical” change in the situation on Telegram. Russia will use “all means”, including non-strategic nuclear weapons, against targets in Ukraine. “If necessary,” the supplying countries would also become participants in a nuclear conflict. His boss doubled down in a speech to the domestic secret service FSB: Vladimir Putin warned that the West knows what to expect from the use of a “nuclear element” in an attack on Russia.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky sharply rejected the allegations. “Normally, when Russia doesn’t win on the battlefield, it starts looking for nuclear weapons on Ukrainian territory,” he scoffed at a media conference in Kiev on Wednesday. The allegations are nothing more than “political pressure”.
Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Heorhii Tykhyi told Reuters that Russian officials “known for their impressive record of lying are again trying to invent the old ‘dirty bomb’ nonsense.” They call on the international community to “reject Russia’s dirty information bombs”.
London also denied it. A representative of the British Ministry of Defense said this Kyiv Independentthere is “no truth” to the allegations. From Paris came mockery instead of indignation: “The only thing left is noise, threats and empty words,” it was said on the X account “French Response”, which is assigned to the Foreign Ministry. This referred to the various statements made by Russian propagandists on the subject.
In fact, transferring nuclear weapons would be a clear breach of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Ukraine no longer has nuclear weapons – and is officially not seeking any. In 1994, it gave up the Soviet nuclear weapons stationed on its territory in the Budapest Memorandum in return for security guarantees from Russia, among others. Since the beginning of the war, Zelensky has consistently emphasized joining NATO and thus being placed under its nuclear protective umbrella as a security solution. The Russian allegations contradict not only international law, but also political reality.
More than just Kremlin propaganda
But Moscow is obviously not interested in facts. The pattern is well known: whenever diplomatic pressure increases or when important symbolic dates come up, the Kremlin spreads accusations that are difficult to verify and have the maximum escalation. As early as 2022, Russia accused Ukraine of planning a “dirty bomb” – inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency found no evidence. Even now the allegations come without evidence, but with maximum media force.
Analysts see this as more than just propaganda. Denis Cenusa, Eastern Europe expert at the University of Giessen, emphasized to the news portal EuronewsRussian intelligence services wanted to redirect attention around “memorable data” and “distort reality, especially for an external audience.”
British security expert John Foreman spoke in the Kyiv Independent of “obvious nonsense” and a “desperate” distraction from Putin’s military failures. Other observers point to the stalled peace talks: The nuclear rhetoric serves to unsettle the West, drive wedges between Washington and the European capitals and portray Kiev as an unpredictable escalator.
The logic behind Putin’s pattern of actions
Putin’s pattern of action follows a clear logic:
- First: the permanent hint of nuclear escalation, to intimidate fearful people and thereby psychologically increase the costs of Western support.
- Second: the Reversal of perpetrator and victim. By accusing Great Britain and France of a “flagrant violation” of international law, Moscow is trying to distract attention from its own aggression.
- Third: the Presenting Russia as a rational actor, who merely reacts to alleged provocations.
The hidden intention behind the nuclear threat is less the actual use of nuclear weapons than strategic intimidation. Every new claim forces governments in London, Paris or Washington to take a stand, attracts attention and sows doubt. At the same time, the rhetoric stabilizes the domestic political narrative that Russia is not fighting against Ukraine, but against the “collective West,” which is completely blinded by its hatred of Russia.
Threats instead of successes
Four years after the start of the war it becomes clear: For the Kremlin, the nuclear map is less a military ultima ratio than a recurring instrument of political communication. It replaces military success with maximum threat – and is intended to give the impression that Western Europe and Ukraine, as the actual aggressors, are on the verge of a self-inflicted escalation.
It appears that Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin is still getting away with it, even in the fifth year of the war. Especially in US President Donald Trump’s Oval Office. (aargauerzeitung.ch)