LONDON, September 23. /TASS/ NATO will lose much of its credibility, if the Russian Armed Forces win the Ukrainian conflict, so the alliance’s countries will be ready to use long-range missiles against Russia and even take the risk of a nuclear confrontation, Glenn Diesen, a professor of political science at the University of South-Eastern Norway told the portal Brave New Europe (BNE).

If Ukraine loses, NATO, too, will lose "much of its credibility as this was a bet on Kiev's victory."

According to the expert, NATO expansion that canceled inclusive pan-European security agreements with Russia was "the main manifestation of America's hegemonic ambitions after the Cold War." For this reason, the expert does not rule out that the alliance’s member-countries "will be prepared to attack Russia with long-range precision missiles and risk a nuclear exchange."

In Disen's estimation, "NATO provoked the invasion and sabotaged all paths to peace."

"By failing to admit NATO's central role in provoking this war, we also prevent ourselves from recognizing possible political solutions," the expert believes.

On September 20, The Times reported that Britain and the United States might in the coming weeks make a tacit decision in favor of strikes on targets deep inside Russia with long-range Western missiles from Ukraine, but will try to keep this secret until the first of these strikes have been carried out. On September 22, US President Joe Biden said in response to a media question that no such decision had been made yet. At the same time, on September 11, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the West had most likely already agreed on this issue, and the media were merely formalizing this decision.