Putin’s nuts, the nightmare of nuclear war and the possible bluff –

Table of Contents

• 1 Codenamed Oreshnik
• 2 One step before nuclear annihilation
• 3 Is Putin bluffing?
• 4 How many more “hazelnuts”
• 5 **How does Dr. ‌Kovalevskaya assess the likelihood that the “Oreshnik missile” test is a strategic maneuver to strengthen Russia’s negotiating ‍position ahead of potential summits with world leaders?**

During the seven minutes that Vladimir Putin‘s speech lasted, the planet held its breath. It was preceded by the Russian attack with a new type of missile on the industrial complex of the city of Dnipro in eastern Ukraine, about 100 kilometers from the front line. Although Kiev initially said it was an intercontinental ballistic missile, both Moscow and Washington said it was a medium-range hypersonic missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead, but in this attack it had a conventional warhead.

Codenamed Oreshnik

It was a “successful test” of the missile, code-named Oreshnik (Hazelnut), which is impossible to intercept, the Russian president said, in response to the November 19 and 21 Ukrainian attacks inside Russian territory with long-range ballistic missiles made in USA and Britain and “can only be used with the direct involvement of their manufacturers”. The Biden administration was informed in time of the “test” on Ukrainian soil so that there would be no misunderstandings about an imminent nuclear strike and a nuclear Armageddon could be avoided.

One step before nuclear annihilation

Regardless of the early warnings, missile attacks from both sides take the planet one step closer to nuclear destruction. Especially when they are accompanied by Putin’s threat of decisive, equivalent strikes against military installations in the countries that supply Ukraine with ballistic missiles. “I advise the ruling elites of countries planning such attacks to take it seriously,” Putin said, leaving open the possibility of missile attacks on the European continent. “Once we select the targets for further testing of systems like ‘Hazelnut’, we will notify the residents and citizens of friendly countries living in these areas to leave them. We will do it publicly, without fear of countermeasures from the enemy, because the anti-missile systems of the Americans in Europe cannot intercept these missiles that have a speed of Mach 10, that is 2.5 to 3 km per second,” he added.

Is Putin bluffing?

Is Putin bluffing by betting on the fear of humanity, especially the peoples of Europe, of a nuclear war? He’s probably done it before, after all. But in the 1,000 days that have passed since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the situation is steadily worsening and bringing closer a showdown between Russia and NATO. The new datum on the geopolitical chessboard is the return of Donald Trump to the White House in two months. It is possible that the upgrading of missile attacks on both sides is aimed at strengthening the negotiating positions in view of a bilateral summit bargain. That seems to be the intention of Putin who closed his speech by accusing the US of leading to a global conflict in which Russia is ready for anything with its insistence on world hegemony, but at the same time declaring his preference for “resolving all disputes by peaceful means” within”.

How many more “hazelnuts”

The question is how many more “hazelnuts” will fall and how many pawns will be sacrificed on the world chessboard until, if at all, a new balance of terror is reached.