Putin's nuclear threat evokes memories of the Cuban missile crisis

Both the US and the USSR had a ‘no first-strike policy’ with nuclear weapons during the Cuban missile crisis — but the new Russian nuclear doctrine allows for a first-strike option.

John F Kennedy, US president during the Cuban missile crisis. Picture: PA Wire

Russian president Vladimir Putin, as a noted practitioner of martial arts, knows the importance of timing when making a move against an opponent. 

In ratcheting up threats to use tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine, just before the 60th anniversary of the Cuban missile crisis, he is clearly playing on the world’s fear of a nuclear conflagration.