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NATO official says alliance would be forced to take action if Russia uses chemical, nuclear weapons
"If they will be using chemical weapons or other kinds of higher-end systems against Ukraine, this will be changing fundamentally the nature of the war that Mr. Putin has waged against Ukraine.
I can guarantee that NATO is ready to respond proportionately." - NATO Deputy-General Secretary Mircea Geoana
I all honesty, I have no working idea of what the above implies. Proportionately? How does NATO reply proportionately to Russia's use of a tactical nuclear weapon in Ukraine? To an attack with its Novichok nerve agent?

3.26.22
NATO Deputy-General Secretary Mircea Geoana said in an interview with The Associated Press that the group would respond if Russia used chemical or nuclear weapons in its war against Ukraine. "NATO is a defensive alliance, but also it's a nuclear alliance," said Geoana, who is also the former Romanian foreign minister and ambassador to the United States. "If they will be using chemical weapons or other kinds of higher-end systems against Ukraine, this will be changing fundamentally the nature of the war that Mr. Putin has waged against Ukraine." "I can guarantee that NATO is ready to respond proportionately," Geoana added. Russia has become more desperate as the war has gone on for more than a month, with Russian forces previously believing they would take over Ukraine within days.
"Mr. Putin probably believed his own post-imperial fantasies, thinking that Ukrainians will welcome them with open arms," Geoana said. "In fact, they got very fierce resistance. We are convinced that today, even with reinforcements that are still coming into Ukraine, Russia does not possess the forces and the capacity to occupy the whole of Ukraine." NATO countries have been providing humanitarian and military aid to Ukraine, but have refrained from implementing a no-fly zone or giving fighter jets as the alliance sees those as moves that get the countries too directly involved in the fighting.
"If they will be using chemical weapons or other kinds of higher-end systems against Ukraine, this will be changing fundamentally the nature of the war that Mr. Putin has waged against Ukraine.
I can guarantee that NATO is ready to respond proportionately." - NATO Deputy-General Secretary Mircea Geoana
I all honesty, I have no working idea of what the above implies. Proportionately? How does NATO reply proportionately to Russia's use of a tactical nuclear weapon in Ukraine? To an attack with its Novichok nerve agent?