If Vladimir Putin really does have no intention of deploying nuclear weapons in Ukraine, President Joe Biden asked Thursday, then “why does he keep talking about it?”
After weeks of threats from Moscow and fears of an escalation in the conflict, the Russian leader had earlier in the day played down the idea of the Kremlin taking such a drastic step.
But Biden expressed skepticism and criticized Putin for what he called “dangerous” brinkmanship.
“I think if he has no intention, why does he keep talking about it? Why does he talk about the ability to use a tactical nuclear weapon?” Biden told NewsNation in an interview late Thursday in Syracuse, New York.
“He’s been very dangerous with how he’s approached this, and he should just get out — he could end this all, get out of Ukraine,” Biden added.
The president was responding to comments made by the Russian leader in a typically grandiose speech Thursday that lasted more than three hours and covered topics ranging from culture wars to the Kremlin’s invasion of its neighbor.
“We do not need a nuclear strike on Ukraine, there is no point — neither political nor military,” Putin said in the speech.
He instead sought to blame the United States and its allies, insisting Russia had only been responding to Western nuclear “blackmail.”
The Kremlin has stoked growing nuclear fears as its military retreats on the battlefield and disquiet grows at home, with Russian officials repeatedly suggesting that it would be willing to use nuclear weapons to protect annexed territory where Ukrainian forces are making gains.
In an address to the nation last month, Putin said that if Russia’s “territorial integrity” was threatened, “we will certainly use all the means at our disposal” to retaliate — and added that “it’s not a bluff.”
There was nothing new in Putin’s latest statements regarding nuclear weapons and how Russia intends to use them, said Andrey Baklitskiy, a senior researcher at the Geneva-based United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research.
“What he means when he talks about nuclear weapons is nuclear deterrence against NATO and the United States, either attacking Russia with nuclear weapons or attacking Russia directly, which can escalate to the nuclear level,” Baklitskiy said Friday by telephone.
Putin observed exercises by Russia’s strategic nuclear forces Wednesday, with two U.S. officials saying that Moscow had informed the U.S. about the annual drills, as it is obliged to do under the New START nuclear treaty.
The officials said the U.S. has no indications Russia is preparing to use a nuclear weapon inside Ukraine but continues to watch the situation closely.
