German General Harald Kujat (ret.), a known leading critic of the NATO war drive, told NachDenkSeiten yesterday that the coordinated Ukrainian attack on five Russian strategic bomber airfields is undoubtedly a coup, but one without real relevance to the ongoing war. “It is an act of terrorism.” The question, he said, is what the intention behind that was. Usually, there are nuclear weapons depots at such airfields; therefore, attacking them with drones is a dangerous thing. The intent may have been to provoke a Russian reaction that would be taken as a pretext to disrupt the Istanbul talks. That has not worked, as the foreign ministers of Russia and the U.S.A. were on the phone after the attacks, which is important, because as long as the direct communication between the two superpowers functions, an escalation can and will be avoided.
He said: “It is always crucial that the two nuclear superpowers maintain their connection. It is of the utmost importance that the actions of third parties, such as those of Ukraine in this case, are correctly identified by both nuclear powers. Both continue to pursue the overriding interest of preventing a nuclear exchange of blows. This is the crucial point: we must not allow ourselves to be drawn into an unwanted spiral of escalation.”
