Vladimir Putin seriously considered unleashing nuclear weapons in the Ukraine war, US intelligence suggested, prompting Joe Biden to threaten ‘catastrophic consequences’ if he did so, a bombshell new book reveals.
Months after the invasion in 2022, the US uncovered evidence of ‘highly sensitive, credible conversations inside the Kremlin‘ that the Russian President could use nukes to avoid major battlefield losses, according to journalist Bob Woodward.
WILL RUSSIA USE NUKE?
In his new book, War, the famed Watergate reporter describes the Biden administration increased the probability of Russia using nukes up from 5 to 10 per cent up to 50 per cent.
National Security adviser Jake Sullivan reportedly stared ‘with dread’ at the chilling intelligence assessment, with Biden telling him to ‘get on the line with the Russians. Tell them what we will do in response.’
WHAT BIDEN SAID
He said to use language that was threatening but not too strong, the book says. Biden also reached out to Putin directly in a message, warning of the ‘catastrophic consequences’ if Russia used nuclear weapons.
Putin, his ministers and propagandists, have all frequently threatened the West with Russia’s nuclear arsenal.
One of his cronies, former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev, recently urged Putin to obliterate ‘damned’ Britain by sinking it under the sea.
In a strong, new warning to the West late last month, the Russian dictator said any nation’s conventional attack on his country that is supported by a nuclear power will be considered a joint attack on his country.
ABOUT THE THREAT
The threat was aimed at discouraging the West from allowing Ukraine to strike deep into Russia with longer-range weapons and appears to significantly lower the threshold for the possible use of Russia’s nuclear arsenal.
READ ALSO – Biden accused Israel PM Netanyahu of ‘regularly lying’ – calls him a bad f***ing guy, a son of a bi**h
Biden has held off on allowing Ukraine to hit military targets deeper inside Russia with US-provided missiles over fears of escalating the war, even as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy pleads for permission and Ukraine argues it is nothing more than sabre-rattling from Russia.
In another heated conversation laid out in Woodward’s book, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin confronted his Russian counterpart, Sergei Shoigu, in October 2022.
‘We know you are contemplating the use of tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine,’ Austin said, according to Woodward.
