Why Kremlin threatening with 'war with NATO' in Ukraine: Expert's opinion

What the Kremlin said

Today, the Kremlin spokesman, in a comment to Russian propagandists, said that he allows the alleged "increase in terms" of the so-called "special operation", since it began as an operation against Ukraine, and now "has taken the form of a war against the collective West".

"Yes, the special military operation may last a little longer, but it cannot change the course of things," said Peskov.

At the same time, the spokesman of the Russian dictator did not clarify what the terms of the so-called 'SMO' were determined earlier.

What does the expert say about it?

According to a comment by the head of the Center for Military Legal Studies, Oleksandr Musiienko, there is nothing surprising about this statement from Peskov. The Kremlin initially hoped for a quick 'special military operation (SMO), but now they have to explain to Russians why the war with Ukraine is still ongoing.

"The war continues, and Russia is experiencing significant losses. Despite totalitarianism in Russia, this requires constant explanations. They have to explain why this war should continue. They cannot say that Ukrainian resistance is significant and they did not expect such losses, so they found an explanation - we are not fighting Ukraine but NATO. In terms of propaganda inflation in previous years and scaring Russians with NATO, they hit the right spot. This is what Russians fear," explained the expert.

Moreover, according to him, these statements acknowledge that Russia cannot defeat Ukraine, so it must continue fighting for as long as even Russia itself cannot predict.

"Another point is that against the backdrop of all these statements that the Kremlin is looking for ways to negotiate and freeze the war, Russia wants to turn everything upside down. They want to show that they are supposedly interested in some kind of ceasefire, but Ukraine and the West are not. That is, they supposedly have to continue this war, whether they want to or not," added Musiienko.

As the expert noted, some Russians understand that all these statements from the Kremlin are just excuses, but most will believe it.

"But everything is measured by the number of lines to the military enlistment offices. When we see long lines at the enlistment offices, it means that Russians believe in it and are ready to rush to serve. As long as there are no lines, it can be said that the enthusiasm among Russians is waning. But overall, most Russians will swallow this. For years, they were fed with the threat from NATO," he concluded.

Earlier RBC-Ukraine reported whether Russia could start a war with NATO and what the goal of the Russians could be.