A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Now, for more on that new missile Russia launched at Ukraine, it appears to be intended for one thing - to send a nuclear warning to the West. Here's NPR's Geoff Brumfiel.
GEOFF BRUMFIEL, BYLINE: Russian president Vladimir Putin said that the new missile is a ballistic missile with a nonnuclear payload. But experts say it is a weapon that's been designed primarily to carry nuclear warheads. That means this launch is really a Russian message.
AARON STEIN: They're not being subtle about it, so you have to give them credit in that regard.
BRUMFIEL: Aaron Stein is the president of the Foreign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia. The U.S. claims this new missile is an updated version of a weapon that was used to threaten much of Europe during the height of the Cold War. Stein agrees.
STEIN: They're showing everybody that they have the tools and the capabilities to carry out nuclear strikes throughout Europe. And they're using, we believe, a system that is really purpose-built to carry those warheads.
BRUMFIEL: This the latest in a series of nuclear warnings from Putin since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine started. So far, they seem to have done little to stop the U.S. and NATO from getting involved.
STEIN: The Russians are struggling, I would say, to make their nuclear threats more credible.
BRUMFIEL: The missile launch comes in direct response to a U.S. decision to allow Ukraine to use shorter-range nonnuclear missiles to attack Russia. Pavel Podvig is an arms control expert who studies Russian nuclear forces. He says Russia saw that decision as an escalation.
PAVEL PODVIG: Now we have a response, which is like, well, we also are prepared to escalate.
BRUMFIEL: But this kind of escalation has risks. When a missile intended to carry nuclear weapons launches, the U.S. and Europe can't tell right away what's on board. There's the possibility they could make a mistake the next time Russia launches one of these missiles and it starts a nuclear war. In fact, the risk with intermediate-range missiles like these were so high during the Cold War, then-President Ronald Reagan and Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev signed a treaty to ban them. Russia and the U.S. ended the treaty during the first Trump administration.
Podvig says the war in Ukraine has been escalating in recent weeks. He'd like to see the U.S. and Russia take a breath before pushing things further.
PODVIG: I hope that people will kind of step back a bit and think about it.
BRUMFIEL: But for now, both sides seem unlikely to back off.
Geoff Brumfiel, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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