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The words that Russian President Vladimir Putin chose for describing the nuclear angle of the special operation for seizing and annexing Crimea in March 2014, might appear so odd that it is well-nigh impossible to make sense of them. 鈥淵es, we were ready,鈥� he said to the question about whether the option of putting strategic forces on high alert was considered. He then clarified that these forces were always on . And when 鈥渟ome military experts鈥� advised him to use all available means of deterrence, he said 鈥淣o,鈥� according to the on Russian television.

The message is perhaps confusing, but regardless we should take Putin鈥檚 nuclear discourse very seriously. Broadly ignorant of how nuclear deterrence works, Putin and his cronies are both irresponsible and reckless when it comes to using nuclear threats for political purposes.

Ukraine is a case in point. What could have been the result of a high nuclear alert if Ukrainian garrisons in Crimea had decided to resist the arrival of 鈥減olite green men鈥濃�擱ussian soldiers without identification insignia?

Or for that matter, if under these circumstances the government in Kyiv had decided to send reinforcements to repel the Russian invasion. Nuclear options were entirely redundant for that projection of power, so the only meaningful interpretation of this 鈥渉onest and open position鈥� (as Putin defines his own stance) is to see it as an attempt to shift the focus from the decision-making on Crimea then to the power-play with the West now.

• Read more at the Brookings Blog Order From Chaos 鈥� Foreign Policy in a Troubled World, where was posted 1 April.