Dîncu: “The red button is a metaphor”. How many people, apart from Putin, must pass the decision of a nuclear attack

He believes that the idea of ​​the Russians dropping a nuclear charge into the Black Sea has no support, according to the News.

“First of all, we should tell people that the nuclear button is a metaphor, that it is not actually a button in the true sense of the word, that there is not a single man who has the possibility, whether it is Putin or some other dictator, which alone has the possibility to trigger a disaster”, explained the Minister of Defense.

Vasile Dîncu was asked, on Saturday, on the Insider Politic show, about the fact that Vladimir Putin threatens the world with the nuclear button and how imminent this danger is.

“First of all, we should tell people that the nuclear button is a metaphor, that it is not actually a button in the true sense of the word, that there is not a single man who has the possibility, whether it is Putin or another dictator, which has the possibility alone to trigger a disaster. Secondly, it is obvious that in the discussion from the NATO strategic concept in Madrid, in point 28, the CBRN capability is discussed, i.e. chemical, bacteriological, radiological and nuclear, i.e. this whole complex, this danger that would derive from the bombs nuclear, chemical or bacteriological. So all this potential of NATO must be one that is organized in such a way as to deter, that is, the logic of the entire nuclear development is one of deterrence. We have 5,000 or 6,000 like Russia has of nuclear warheads, NATO has about the same or a few more if we add Europe and that means that none of them can use these nuclear warheads, because the moment you use them and it starts a battle, it means you committed suicide and no one wants to commit suicide. Neither civilizations nor dictators. There are very few dictators who over time had even that much will, even though they killed thousands of people or caused millions of other people to commit suicide”, stated the Minister of Defense.

“The Russians approach this topic rationally”

He believes that there is a small probability that a nuclear war will be triggered.

“So there is a very small probability that a nuclear war will break out. This does not mean that you do not have to be prepared all the time, because there is, what I intuit in your question, a concern of the Europeans who were saying, in fact, this disengagement, this mutual blackmail, which, let’s say, which is the nuclear one, is can be done by Russia towards Europe, because Europe does not have the potential that Russia has. NATO, the United States together certainly have this potential, so that deterrence works, but Europe does not. But Europe must be seen alongside NATO, because it is part of NATO in most of its countries and functions as such”, said Vasile Dîncu.

He believes that the Russians approach the issue of the nuclear threat rationally.

“All the signs show that the Russians, in all Putin’s irrationality, approach this issue rationally. Because you saw Putin’s Chechen partner, Kadyrov, asked for tactical, at least nuclear, strikes in Ukraine. And Peskov, the spokesman, therefore the most authoritative, answered him that this is not a problem of emotion, this is a rational problem, it is provided for in the laws and in the defense strategy, in the military strategy of Russia and that it is not the case to him, in fact, that it is a job that means, as Peskov said, objective analyses. That is, it means that Russia should be threatened by a nuclear power, that is, respond to a reaction, because that is what it says in their military doctrine, or be unable to defend themselves against an attack with conventional weapons. That is, let it be their last chance to defend themselves. None of these conditions are currently fulfilled”, stated the Minister of Defense.

“There are around 7 elements of fragmentation of this decision”

He explained that in the case of nuclear danger, the decision centers are separated, and the decision is not taken by one person.

“And point 28 of the strategic concept talks about CBRN, about the nuclear threat, but also in the NATO documents and in the documents of Russia or the former USSR and in the international treaties there is a point that is very important, the separation of the decision centers regarding the nuclear danger, the political center, the military center and the military are quite fragmented. That is, in the case of Russia, let’s say, President Putin should give this signal, the prime minister takes it, the prime minister must contact and forward it to the chief, the minister of defense, the minister of defense, the chief of the General Staff and so on. There are still around seven elements of this fragmentation of the decision. It is assumed that when more people think, surely the emotion disappears and this link breaks somewhere. Besides, there is also a communication. Did you see Anthony Blinken last week speak publicly about the communication that the United States has with Russia, including private communication, so not only in the public area, where he said he warned Russia of the direct consequences that would have when they would use a nuclear weapon. So it is unlikely and I would like to say that we must be responsible”, Vasile Dîncu also declared.

The minister mentioned that it is important not to create panic among the population.

“Sometimes it bothers journalists that they don’t talk about this very often, but I think it’s responsible not to create panic, because these days, if we look at it from a sociological point of view, it appears very frequently in Europe, but also here , if we were to measure what the Americans call fear of war, it is already a syndrome and people, when you talk about this very often, get scared, go into an agony and, normally, they have to we approach rationally. There is one more thing here. In general, fall to winter and the Russians, with their nuclear triad, do applications and exercises. So, even if we see a nuclear submarine like the Poseidon moving, I think the media reported, in which they have nuclear charges, from one side to the other, that does not mean a nuclear danger, because even last fall, and now for two years there were such movements. It is certain that NATO also conducts exercise operations and applications, especially defensive, defense in the field of CBRN, so the movements and applications and exercises are normal. It does not mean that a war is starting even if this happens,” the Defense Minister added.

What strategy does Romania have in the face of the nuclear threat

He detailed Romania’s CBRN strategy.

“Every NATO member country is obliged to base and apply a national CBRN strategy. Romania’s strategy is applied by the Ministry of National Defense plus the Ministry of the Interior and other ministries, because it is a defensive strategy. At the moment, the Ministry of National Defense has two procurement processes: for CBRN detection and surveillance equipment and rehabilitation because there are three pillars in the NATO defense policy in this area, there is detection, there is annihilation and there is recovery, reconstruction after a possible incident of this bacteriological, chemical or nuclear invoice. So there are such strategies. There are specialized units in this field in the Romanian Army. We have common applications with NATO. There is an audit that is done at the European level, it was also done in the past years regarding the defense capabilities. In our joint strategy with the Ministry of the Interior and other ministries that deal with public administration, it means the management including some elements of invoice protection in each city, there are shelters in this area, there is a civil defense strategy, they have been verified in the last year all these things. So we rely on the fact that in the main such an incident does not happen, but if it were to happen, there are elements of protection that we think of and that are possible to a certain degree, because if we are talking, obviously, of a nuclear war of a world war, then surely any forms are useless, even those iodine pills or other forms, certainly individual or collective protective equipment for communities, detection, decontamination capabilities. There are certainly specialists in all these fields”, Vasile Dîncu said.

“Russia’s dropping of a nuclear charge into the Black Sea has no support”

He claims that Russia provoked through language, explaining that there is no support for the version that it would launch a nuclear bomb in the Black Sea.

“Russia has so far only tried to provoke in language. Of course, there were excesses of language on the part of some politicians, but to challenge the NATO countries with such elements that, let’s say, would be related to the nuclear zone, even if we are talking about the nuclear tactical zone. Obviously, there are specialists in the mass media, there are screenwriters, there are also in the very serious media, let’s say, Western, analysts who create for the sake of the show, but also for the sake of some, let’s say, scenarios that use their imagination and knowledge , they make scenarios about possible attempts, for example, the idea that a bomb, a nuclear charge might be dropped in the Black Sea for impression. It has no support, because there is also Russia and it is said that the Black Sea, Traian Băsescu said that it is a Russian lake. There are neighbors who, like Turkey, Romania or Bulgaria, are not Russia’s enemies at this moment. Russia says it has a major problem with Ukraine and various forms, Nazis or other things, so we are not considered to be at war with Russia. So at this moment there are no rational arguments to be able to say that we have the imminence of a nuclear war. This does not mean that we should not be worried about the turn that things have taken and what Putin is saying and doing at this moment”, Vasile Dîncu also declared.