NEW YORK, (AP) President Joe Biden warned that the risk of nuclear “Armageddon” has risen to its greatest level since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis as Russian authorities considered the potential deployment of tactical nuclear weapons in the wake of serious losses in their eight-month invasion of Ukraine.
Biden claimed that Russian President Vladimir Putin was “a guy I know fairly well” and that the Russian president “is not joking when he talks about the use of tactical nuclear weapons or biological or chemical weapons.” Biden was speaking at a fundraiser for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.
“Since Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis, we have not confronted the possibility of Armageddon,” continued Biden.
He asserted that Putin poses a real threat since “his military is, should we say, significantly underperforming.
Although Biden’s words represented the sternest cautions the U.S. government has ever offered regarding the nuclear risks, U.S. officials have been warning for months about the possibility that Russia could deploy WMD in Ukraine as it has encountered numerous tactical failures on the battlefield.
It wasn’t immediately obvious if Biden was making reference to a fresh evaluation of Russian intentions. However, U.S. officials have stated as late as this week that they have not observed any modification to Russia’s nuclear arsenal that would call for a modification to the alert posture of U.S. nuclear weapons.
According to White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, “We have seen no need to modify our own strategic nuclear posture, nor do we have indication that Russia is ready to deploy nuclear weapons imminently.”
Experts consider the 13-day conflict that ensued in 1962 after the United States learned that the Soviet Union had secretly deployed nuclear weapons to Cuba to be the closest the world has ever gone to nuclear catastrophe. During the administration of President John F.
On both sides of the Iron Curtain, attention to arms control was refocused under the Kennedy administration.
Additionally, Biden questioned the Russian nuclear doctrine and cautioned that the use of a tactical weapon with a smaller yield might swiftly turn into total global catastrophe.
Biden asserted that there is no such thing as an easy way to unleash a tactical nuclear weapon without bringing about Armageddon.
Putin’s “off-ramp” in Ukraine was still something he was “trying to figure out,” he continued.
“How does he get out of here?” Biden enquired. Where is he in a situation where he risks not only losing face but also a sizable amount of influence within Russia?
Putin has frequently hinted at utilising his nation’s sizable nuclear weapons, most recently when he announced plans to enlist Russian forces to fight in Ukraine last month.
“I want to remind you that our nation also possesses a number of weapons of mass devastation.
Putin stated on September 21 that “It’s not a bluff” and that “when the territorial integrity of our nation is threatened, to preserve Russia and our people, we will absolutely employ all the tools at our disposal.”
Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser for the White House, claimed last week that the United States has informed Russia of the “consequences” of using nuclear weapons in Ukraine.
“We are aware of this, taking it very seriously, and directly engaging with Russia about it,” Sullivan said. “This includes the kind of decisive responses the United States would have if they went down that dark road.”
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, stated earlier on Thursday that Putin was aware that a nuclear attack by Russia would be “never forgiven” by the rest of the world.
Zelenskyy asserted, “He recognises that he would no longer be able to save, so to speak, his life following the use of nuclear bombs.
Biden made his remarks during a private fundraising event for Democratic Senate candidates held at the James and Kathryn Murdoch residence in Manhattan. In such circumstances, which are only open to a small number of reporters without cameras or recording equipment, he tends to be more unreserved, frequently speaking with merely rough notes.
Miller provided a report from Washington.
Biden: Nuclear “Armageddon” risk at its highest level since the 1962 crisis
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