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| Photo Credit: AP. |
NEW YORK (AP) — President Joe Biden is declaring that the risk of nuclear “Armageddon” is at the highest level since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, as Russian officials speak of using tactical nuclear weapons after suffering massive setbacks in the eight-month invasion of Ukraine.
Speaking at
a Democratic fundraiser, Biden said Thursday night that Russian President
Vladimir Putin is “a guy I know fairly well” and the Russian leader is “not
joking when he talks about the use of tactical nuclear weapons or biological or
chemical weapons.”
Biden added,
“We have not faced the prospect of Armageddon since Kennedy and the Cuban
Missile Crisis.” He suggested the threat from Putin is real “because his
military is — you might say — significantly underperforming.”
U.S.
officials for months have warned of the prospect that Russia could use weapons
of mass destruction in Ukraine as it has faced strategic setbacks on the
battlefield, though Biden’s remarks marked the starkest warnings yet by the
U.S. government about the nuclear stakes.
Still,
nothing has changed in U.S. intelligence assessments that in recent weeks have
shown no evidence that Putin has imminent plans to deploy nuclear weapons,
according to U.S. officials.
One
official, who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition
of anonymity, added that Biden was speaking broadly about the administration’s
growing concerns about Putin’s threats.
Biden was
conveying that the White House sees Putin’s rhetoric as “reckless and
irresponsible” and is taking it seriously, the official said. The official
added that Biden’s remarks are in line with warnings he’s made in speeches at
the U.N. General Assembly and that other senior administration officials have
made recently.
The
president’s new remarks came after White House officials this week said they
have seen no change to Russia’s nuclear forces that would require a change in
the alert posture of U.S. nuclear forces.
“We have not
seen any reason to adjust our own strategic nuclear posture, nor do we have
indication that Russia is preparing to imminently use nuclear weapons,” White
House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Tuesday.
The 13-day
showdown in 1962 that followed the U.S. discovery of the Soviet Union’s secret
deployment of nuclear weapons to Cuba is regarded by experts as the closest the
world has ever come to nuclear annihilation. The crisis during President John
F. Kennedy’s administration sparked a renewed focus on arms control on both sides
of the Iron Curtain.
Biden on
Thursday also challenged Russian nuclear doctrine, warning that the use of a
lower-yield tactical weapon could quickly spiral out of control into global
destruction.
“I don’t
think there is any such a thing as the ability to easily use a tactical nuclear
weapon and not end up with Armageddon,” Biden said.
He added
that he was still “trying to figure” out Putin’s “off-ramp” in Ukraine.
“Where does
he find a way out?” Biden asked. “Where does he find himself in a position that
he does not only lose face but lose significant power within Russia?”
Putin has
repeatedly alluded to using his country’s vast nuclear arsenal, including last
month when he announced plans to conscript Russian men to serve in Ukraine.
“I want to
remind you that our country also has various means of destruction ... and when
the territorial integrity of our country is threatened, to protect Russia and
our people, we will certainly use all the means at our disposal,” Putin said
Sept. 21, adding with a lingering stare at the camera, “It’s not a bluff.”
White House
national security adviser Jake Sullivan said last week that the U.S. has been
“clear” to Russia about what the “consequences” of using a nuclear weapon in
Ukraine would be.
“This is
something that we are attuned to, taking very seriously, and communicating
directly with Russia about, including the kind of decisive responses the United
States would have if they went down that dark road,” Sullivan said.
Ukraine
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said earlier Thursday that Putin understands that
the “world will never forgive” a Russian nuclear strike.
“He
understands that after the use of nuclear weapons he would be unable any more
to preserve, so to speak, his life, and I’m confident of that,” Zelenskyy said.
Biden’s
comments came during a private fundraiser for Democratic Senate candidates at
the Manhattan home of James and Kathryn Murdoch. He tends to be more unguarded
— often speaking with just rough notes — in such settings, which are open only
to a handful of reporters without cameras or recording devices.
Miller
reported from Washington.