Biden dismisses Russian nuclear weapon denials
‘If he has no intention, why does he keep talking about it?’
JOE Biden yesterday said he had grave doubts over Vladimir Putin’s claim that he does not plan to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine.
A day after the Russian president’s comment, his US counterpart hit back: “If he has no intention, why does he keep talking about it?”
Putin roundly attacked the West in a rambling speech on Thursday, playing down the chance of nuclear conflict and insisting Russia had not threatened to use such weapons.
He said he had only responded about the issue of nuclear “blackmail” from Western leaders.
He singled out ex-PM Liz Truss, alleging she made “crazy” comments about preparedness to use nuclear arms when she was foreign secretary.
Mr Biden was far from convinced, questioning why the Kremlin despot repeatedly talks about the subject. He added: “Why is he talking about the ability to use a tactical nuclear weapon? He’s been very dangerous in how he’s approached this.”
Putin and some officials have said in recent weeks that Russia might use nuclear arms to protect its territorial integrity – seen in the West as an implicit threat to use them to defend parts of Ukraine that Moscow claims it has recently annexed.
Senior aides in Mr Biden’s regime expressed concern over Russia’s intentions to deploy the weaponry amid its struggles on the battlefield. John Kirby, his national security spokesman, said Russia might consider using a “dirty bomb” and was setting up a pretext to blame Ukraine.
Kremlin chiefs accused Ukraine of planning such a device, where conventional explosives are laced with radioactive material.
Yet Mr Kirby said the US had not seen any signs Russia would deploy one. He added: “They often blame others for that which they are doing themselves or about to do. So that’s why we have to take that seriously.”
UN inspectors will visit Ukraine at Kyiv’s request to check two sites in order to quash Russia’s claim.
As explosions rocked the eastern city of Bakhmut, a senior Russian official threatened to “strike” Western satellites helping Kyiv – an untested area of international law.
Foreign ministry aide Konstantin Vorontsov warned: “Quasi-civilian infrastructure may be a legitimate target for a retaliatory strike.” He called the West’s satellite support “an extremely dangerous trend”.
Ukraine’s military relies on Elon Musk’s SpaceX program for broadband via its Starlink network.
US firms such as Maxar capture images of the war from satellites, while many Ukrainian communications devices use the Iridium satellite network.
Mr Kirby said that an attack on US infrastructure would be met with an, unspecified, response.