– Russia will increase brutality

There is nothing to indicate that Russian President Vladimir Putin intends to comply with the demands of the war against neighboring Ukraine.

On the contrary.

– Russia has increased brutality on the battlefield in Ukraine throughout the war, and has gone to more civilian targets when they do not achieve military progress on the battlefield, says Karen-Anna Eggen to TV 2.

She is a researcher at the Department of Defense Studies, and believes that Russia is now resorting to other and new measures to increase progress on the ground.

– Now Russia is mobilizing, sending a lot of people and they have more people to take off than Ukraine has, warns Eggen.

Warns of nuclear weapons

The Russia researcher also has no doubt that Russia will send more soldiers into the war.

– They are going to increase the brutality. The leadership in the Kremlin needs victories on the battlefield, which they can use to win over their own population, says Eggen, and adds:

– We don’t know if they will manage it. We have seen that they have not excelled on the battlefield so far, but Russia knows brutality, and they will do everything they can to show Ukraine.

Few know exactly which tactics Putin will resort to.

Last week, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Medvedev hinted that Russia could resort to nuclear weapons at any time, should there be an attack on Russian territory.

I think Russia will bet on other measures

Eggen believes that Russia wants to sow fear among the rest of the world with continuous threats about the use of nuclear weapons, and the researcher says it is important to remember one thing:

– If Russia were to use nuclear weapons – with all the terrible consequences it can obviously have, that does not necessarily or automatically mean that there is nuclear war. Or that we are facing the end of the world, she says.

Despite high-level warnings from several quarters, Eggen does not believe that the threat of nuclear weapons is particularly large or likely as of today.

– They use it when they need to turn up the scare, for example in the West. I read the threat they are using now into just such an image, says the researcher.

According to Eggen, many military analysts, politicians and others who follow the situation closely are of the same opinion.

The researcher believes that Russia will initially adopt other measures.

– A game for the gallery

Recently, deployed missile systems have been discovered on top of several defense and administrative buildings in central Moscow, designed to intercept aircraft and incoming missiles, according to The Guardian.

Images from social media purport to show the missile systems placed on top of tall buildings used by the Russian authorities.

– It has a very dramatic effect when you place this type of system on a roof, says Eggen.

Some believe it could signal that the Kremlin is preparing for potential attacks against the capital, while Eggen reads it more as a game for the gallery with the aim of strengthening the narrative that Russia has been trying to build since the invasion in February.

Narrative that Russia is “the reasonable party that is threatened”.

Stoltenberg predicts more offensives

Russia researcher Eggen is not alone in fearing more brutal attacks against Ukraine in the near future.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg warned on Tuesday about Putin’s new plans, and was therefore particularly clear about the necessity for Ukraine to need new and more powerful weapons to defend itself with.

– President Putin has proven that he is willing to pay a high price in this unjust war, says Stoltenberg, adding that Putin has not changed his goal of taking over all of Ukraine.

– And he is planning new offensives, he added.