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Following Russian President Vladimir Putin‘s denial Thursday that he had any intention of using nuclear weapons in Ukraine, President Joe Biden responded, asking “why does he keep talking about it?”
Speaking at the Valdai Discussion Club conference of foreign policy experts Thursday, the Russian president described the war in Ukraine as part of an alleged effort by the West to secure its global domination, which was doomed to fail.
Meanwhile, responding to Putin’s assertions, President Biden termed the former’s frequent references to nuclear weapons as “very dangerous.”
“If he has no intention, why does he keep talking about it?” Biden reportedly told Nexstar’s Reshad Hudson in an exclusive interview.
“Why does he talk about the ability to use a tactical nuclear weapon? He’s been very dangerous in how he’s approached this. He can end this all, get out of Ukraine.”
Western allies have repeatedly warned Moscow against the use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine, saying the consequences would be catastrophic. Meanwhile, Biden administration officials have said there was no evidence that Russia was imminently going to use a chemical or tactical nuclear weapon.
Blaming the West for stoking nuclear tensions, Putin had earlier Thursday said it was pointless for Russia to strike Ukraine with nuclear weapons. “We see no need for that,” he said.
“There is no point in that, neither political, nor military,” Putin asserted, while speaking at the conference.
Without offering any evidence, the Russian president repeated Moscow’s allegation that Ukraine was plotting a false flag attack involving a radioactive dirty bomb. While Western allies have dismissed it as “transparently false,” Ukraine has counter-charged that Russia might be using the allegation as a cover for its own possible plot to detonate a dirty bomb.
Speaking at the conference, Putin denied an earlier warning of his readiness to use “all means available to protect Russia” didn’t amount to the threat of using nuclear weapons, but was a response to Western statements about their possible use of the same.
In late September, while announcing his decree on mobilization, Putin had issued a veiled nuclear threat vowing to use “all means necessary” to achieve Moscow’s aims against Ukraine and the West.
Blaming the U.S. and allies for pushing Kyiv to shift the military action into Russian territory, Putin had said Moscow would “certainly use all the means” at its “disposal to protect Russia and our people.”
“Those who allow themselves such statements on Russia, I’d like to remind you that our country has various [weapons] of destruction, more advanced than NATO countries,” Putin had warned in his speech in September.
However, given the Russian president has repeatedly defied assessments in the past, fears have been raised by Western and Ukrainian officials that reverses in the battlefield and depleting military resources could force Putin to dip into Russia’s tactical nuclear arsenal to achieve victory or at least freeze the conflict.
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