US President Joe Biden does not hide the fact that the threats to use nuclear weapons, made by his Russian counterpart, seem very real to him.
Vladimir Poutine, “a guy I know quite well”said Joe Biden, Thursday, October 6, “does not joke when he talks about the potential use of tactical nuclear weapons or biological or chemical weapons, because his army, one could say, is very underperforming” in the conflict in Ukraine.
Speaking at a fundraiser for the Democratic senatorial campaign in New York, the American president compared the current context to one of the most threatening periods of the post-war period.
“We haven’t faced the prospect of an apocalypse since Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis” did he declare. From October 14 to 28, 1962, the missile crisis installed in Cuba by the Soviet Union and spotted by the United States shook the planet, raising fears of a nuclear war.
“There is (…) a direct threat of the use of nuclear weapons if things continue to follow the path they are currently taking”said Joe Biden.
“Understanding Putin’s way out”
Faced with stubborn Ukrainian resistance, fueled by Western military aid, Vladimir Putin alluded to the atomic bomb in a televised speech on September 21. He said he was ready to use ” all means “ in his arsenal against the West, which he had accused of wanting ” destroy “ Russia. “It’s not a bluff”he had assured.
Experts say such attacks would likely employ tactical nuclear weapons – smaller in explosive charge than a strategic nuclear weapon. But Joe Biden has warned that even a tactical nuclear strike could ignite a wider conflagration.
I don’t think we can easily [utiliser] a tactical nuclear weapon without ending up bringing about the apocalypse.
It is unclear whether Joe Biden is referring to a new assessment by Washington of Russian intentions. “We have seen no reason to adjust our own strategic nuclear posture, and we have no indication that Russia is preparing to use nuclear weapons imminently.”had declared, Tuesday, the press secretary of the White House, Karine Jean-Pierre.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said last week that the United States had been “clear” with Russia on ” consequences “ of the use of a nuclear weapon in Ukraine.
“We are trying to understand Putin’s way out”also confided, for his part, Thursday, Joe Biden. “How can he get out of this?” How can he position himself so that he neither loses face nor loses a significant portion of his power in Russia? »