Senior Writer
Willis Sparks
Senior Writer
Willis Sparks is a senior editor for GZERO Daily. He is also a Director in the Global Macro practice at Eurasia Group, where he has worked since 2005. He has made speeches on international politics on every continent except Antarctica. Willis holds degrees from Brown University, the Juilliard School, Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs, and the Institut d'Etudes Politiques in Paris. He also holds an honorary degree from the Moscow Art Theatre School. A native of Macon, Georgia, Willis has worked as a stuntman at New York's Metropolitan Opera. As a child, he declined an opportunity to spend an afternoon riding the Great American Scream Machine, a rollercoaster, with Ronald McDonald, for money. He has never regretted that decision.
May 06, 2024
On Monday, Russia’s defense ministry announced it will hold military drills that simulate the use of battlefield nuclear weapons. It’s a response to news from the US and Europe that substantial military and financial aid are on their way to Ukraine – and to comments from French President Emmanuel Macron that NATO shouldn’t exclude the possibility of sending alliance soldiers to support Ukrainian troops.
It’s also a flex from Vladimir Putin ahead of his fifth inauguration as president taking place today and Thursday’s annual Victory Day celebration, which marks the defeat of Nazi Germany. This is the first time Russia has publicly announced drills that include so-called tactical nuclear weapons, which are far less powerful than warheads that can be fitted to intercontinental ballistic missiles.
Western governments will take this public threat seriously, but Russia’s use of these weapons remains highly unlikely. Putin knows that tactical nukes might well unite, rather than divide, Ukraine’s Western allies and sharply increase the risk that NATO fully enters a war that Russia can still win if it can isolate Ukraine further from its backers.
