Phil Stewart, Idrees A. Ali

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – The United States has yet to see any “muscle movement” after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that he would be putting nuclear forces on high alert. A senior U.S. defense officer said Monday.

However, some ex-American officials and experts warn that Putin’s comments are not to be dismissed as mere bluster. There is a risk that Putin may decide to use nuclear weapons to further his position if he feels trapped over the conflict in Ukraine.

According to a Putin-order, Russia’s defense ministry Monday stated that its nukes and Pacific ships had been put on “enhanced” combat duty.

Pentagon seems to be stumped by the phrase “special, enhanced combat duty”.

An official speaking under anonymity said that “it’s not the term of art in Russian (nuclear doctrine) doctrine.” We are analyzing and reviewing the document to find out what it actually means.

According to the U.S., Putin made his decision to make a lot of intelligence collection infrastructure to spy on Soviet Union leaders. There have been no large movements of forces or weapons to prove what that means.

According to an official, “I don’t believe that we have seen any specific results as a consequence of the direction he provided, at minimum not yet in terms appreciable, noticeable muscle movements.”

All things, including Russian nuclear storage sites and deployments of nuke-capable weapons systems, missile forces, and submarines are closely watched by the United States.

The White House stated that it did not see any reason to reduce its existing nuclear alert levels.

According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, more than 90% of world’s nukes are owned by the United States and Russia. However, only a small fraction of these weapons have been deployed.

Russia’s actions in Ukraine are being called a “special opera” by Russia. It has not been able to reach any apparent objectives for five days following its invasion. There have been no Russian-controlled cities, airspace is free of Russian influence, and some Russian soldiers running low on fuel.

Putin faces unprecedented economic and diplomatic isolation by the West. The West is funneling hundreds of million of dollars worth of weapons to Ukraine’s army to combat Russian forces.

Jon Wolfsthal was a top advisor to President Barack Obama regarding arms control. He said that the United States has long been worried about Russia’s nukes.

Wolfsthal told a interview, “We need to be very cautious about what we don’t and do with one country that is in a corner and has nuclear arms and is even talking about using them.”

Former U.S. Ambassador to Moscow, Michael McFaul was a fierce Putin critic and wrote that it would be wrong to ignore Putin’s nuclear weapons message.

Putin’s recent nuclear declaration is worrying to those closest to him – Russians I am familiar with. He wrote this on Twitter (NYSE 🙂 that those who don’t know Putin well are saying “it’s just cheap talk.”

Francois Heisbourg (a senior advisor at the IISS, London) agreed.

Heisbourg said that people who believe he is lying are only relying on their gut feelings. Heisbourg explained that people who believe he isn’t lying can be backed up by a wide range of circumstantial evidence.

He hasn’t been lying to Ukraine. He doesn’t do bluffing. He is very clear about what he desires.