Sputnik bares Kremlin nuke misquotes

A major Russian government media site today contrasted misquotations by top Kremlin officials with what the president of Ukraine actually said about nuclear deterrence.

Sputnik News, widely viewed as a propaganda arm of the Russian government, aired official claims that Ukraine's Volodomyr Zelinksky had called for preemptive nuclear strikes on Russia with his actual words.

Speaking at Australia's Lowy Institute via video link, Zelensky urged NATO to launch "preemptive strikes" on Russia, instead of "waiting for Russia's nuclear strikes."

“What should NATO do? [It should] eliminate the possibility of Russia using nuclear weapons. But what is important, I once again appeal to the international community, as it was before Feb. 24: preemptive strikes [are important] so that they know what will happen to them if [nuclear weapons] are used. It should not be vice versa, as in to wait for Russia's nuclear strikes."

But Russian officials misquoted Zelensky, saying he favored launching pre-emptive nuclear strikes on Russia, Sputnik made clear. In the first place, Zelensky did not necessarily urge strikes on nuclear missile targets. Secondly he did not say that NATO should use nuclear weapons. He favored preemptive strikes as a warning against use of nuclear weapons. Demonstrations of conventional power on Russian territory might suffice for that purpose.

But, in any case, strikes against Russian missile-launchers might be made using non-nuclear means, such as with conventional bombs attached to radar-dodging cruise missiles or via electronic jamming of launch systems, assuming codes have been cracked.

Most importantly, Zelensky was responding to the numerous hints from Dictator Vladimir Putin and his operatives that the Kremlin would not rule out use of nuclear weapons in the "special military operation" that is at present going very badly for Putin.

According to Sputnik's reporting, Putin's people went on the propaganda offensive against Zelensky.

Maria Zakharova, foreign ministry spokeswoman, wrote on Telegram:

President of Ukraine Zelensky: "NATO must launch preventive nuclear strikes against Russia."

She added,

The West is fomenting a nuclear war. Every person on the planet should realize that the puppet and unbalanced character Zelensky, pumped up with weapons, has turned into a monster whose hands can destroy the planet.

A Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov,  told Sputnik that Zelensky's statements about "preventive nuclear strikes" against Russia cannot be ignored by the international community, since they are nothing short of a call to start a World War, which will entail catastrophic repercussions. He blamed Washington and London for Zelensky's remarks, saying that they control Kyiv.

Reacting to the Ukrainian president's remarks, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev called for a "preemptive craniotomy" on Zelensky.

"Zelensky announced the need for preventive nuclear strikes on Russia," he wrote on Telegram. "Psychiatrists should perform a preemptive craniotomy on this idiot before he causes more trouble for his people and everyone else."