Russian President Vladimir Putin has told President Emmerson Mnangagwa that he has enough “hyenas” to deal with in Europe after the Zimbabwean leader said he was ready to donate the ravenous animals to Moscow.
As reported by Russia Today, Putin and Mnangagwa shared a laugh during a tense debate on nuclear diplomacy on Friday, as they discussed how to deal with the real and metaphorical “hyenas” threatening their countries.
According to the report, during a plenary session of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), Russian political scientist Sergey Karaganov urged Putin to update Russia’s nuclear doctrine to allow nuclear retaliation against countries that strike Russia with conventional weapons.
This comes after several Western nations, including the US, France, and Germany, recently gave Ukraine permission to use their missiles to hit targets on Russian territory.
Karaganov argued that Western countries have grown complacent and need to be reminded of Russia’s nuclear capabilities. He told Putin:
They have gone mad, especially the Europeans. It’s how animals behave. If there is a herd of hyenas or wild dogs and you’ve got a stick, you can keep them at bay.
But there’s a high chance that they will tear your clothes, and if you get tired they will bite you to death. If you can kill a couple of them then they will disperse.
President Mnangagwa knows about the behaviour of hyenas.
Karaganov then turned to Mnangagwa and asked if he concurred with his assertions. He said:
Do you agree Mr. President, that this is how you deal with hyenas?
In response to Karaganov, Mnangagwa said:
We do have lots of hyenas in Zimbabwe, but we keep them in the national parks. We have no problems with them, but they breed a lot, and if there is anybody who wants them, we are ready to donate.
Putin responded: “Well we’ve got hyenas of our own in Europe”.
Russian nuclear doctrine since 2010 allows for the use of atomic weapons in the event of a nuclear first strike on its territory or infrastructure, or if the existence of the Russian state is threatened by either nuclear or conventional weapons.
Putin said that Russia “needs no nuclear weapons to achieve victory” in Ukraine but added that changes to Russia’s nuclear doctrine “are not ruled out.”
