why would they be worried about "nuremberg" trials? does this expert really think that after a nukular war, there will still be war crimes courts and people roaming Russia to arrest the commanders who pushed the button???



An order by Vladimir Putin to strike Ukraine or the West with nuclear weapons would be ignored by his top commanders, a senior investigative journalist has said.

Many leading military and security officials as well as oligarch cronies believe Putin to be dying or gravely ill, said Christo Grozev, who is an expert on Russian affairs and is associated with the Bellingcat open source research group.

Believing that Putin could soon die, his inner circle would not risk being hauled before a modern equivalent of the Nuremberg trials for unleashing Armageddon, nor would they obey a Putin order to kill opposition foes, Mr Grozev claimed.

The Russian president placed Moscow's nuclear forces on high alert shortly after his invasion of Ukraine began February 24, raising fears he could press the button as the war in Ukraine continues to go against him.

And amid increasing Western support to Ukraine, Putin has made thinly veiled threats hinting at a willingness to deploy Russia's tactical nuclear weapons, which Russian military doctrine holds can be used to force an adversary to retreat.

Meanwhile, Russia has increasingly resorted to nuclear sabre-rattling as the war in Ukraine has stumbled, with state media last week issuing near-daily threats - including one to wipe out the UK and Ireland with a 'nuclear tidal wave'.

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