US President Joe Biden has
urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to not use tactical nuclear or chemical
weapons after a series of military losses in Ukraine.
Asked by an American reporter
with the show 60 Minutes on US network CBS what he would say to Putin if he
considered using such weapons, Biden said: “Don’t. Don’t. Don’t. It would
change the face of war unlike anything since World War II.”
Ukraine’s military drove back
Russian forces in a lightning rout in the northeast of the country
last week, putting Putin under pressure from nationalists at home to regain the
initiative.
Putin has warned that Moscow
would respond more forcefully if its troops were put under further
pressure, raising concerns he could at some point use unconventional means such
as small nuclear or chemical weapons.
Biden said the US response
would be “consequential” – but declined to give details.
Asked about Biden’s comments,
RIA Novosti quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying: “Read [Russia’s
nuclear] doctrine. Everything is written there.”
Russia’s defense minister
Sergey Shoigu said last month that nuclear weapons were not necessary from a
military perspective.
