Biden calls out risk of Putin threats
Says talk of nukes echoes climate of 1962 missile crisis
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden declared that the risk of nuclear “Armageddon” is at the highest level since the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, as Russian officials speak of using tactical nuclear weapons after suffering massive setbacks in the nearly eight-month invasion of Ukraine.
Speaking Thursday night in New York City during a Democratic fundraiser, Biden veered into talk about Ukraine at the end of his standard remarks for such events, saying Russian President Vladimir Putin is “a guy I know fairly well” and the Russian leader is “not joking when he talks about the use of tactical nuclear weapons or biological or chemical weapons.”
Biden added, “We have not faced the prospect of Armageddon since Kennedy and the Cuban missile crisis.” He suggested the threat from Putin is real “because his military is you might say significantly underperforming.”
On Friday, administration officials said Biden’s warning about the risk of nuclear “Armageddon” was designed to send an unvarnished message that no one should underestimate the extraordinary danger if Russia deploys tactical nuclear weapons in its war against Ukraine.
Officials also emphasized Friday nothing has changed in U.S. intelligence assessments that in recent weeks have shown no evidence that Putin has imminent plans to deploy nuclear weapons.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre
on Friday did not directly respond to a question about whether Biden had gone into the event intending to invoke Armageddon, as the White House sought to clarify the president’s off-thecuff comments.
She told reporters: “Russia’s talk of using nuclear weapons is irresponsible and there’s no way to use them without unintended consequences. It cannot happen.”
Biden’s national security team for months has warned that Russia could use weapons of mass destruction in Ukraine as it has faced a series of strategic setbacks on the battlefield. But the president’s remarks were the starkest warnings yet by the U.S. government about the nuclear stakes.
The 13-day showdown in 1962 that followed the
U.S. discovery of the Soviet Union’s secret deployment of nuclear weapons to Cuba is regarded by experts as the closest the world has ever come to nuclear annihilation. The crisis during President John F. Kennedy’s administration sparked a focus on arms control on both sides of the Iron Curtain.
Biden on Thursday also challenged Russian nuclear doctrine, warning that the use of a lower-yield tactical weapon could quickly spiral out of control into global destruction.
“I don’t think there is any such a thing as the ability to easily use a tactical nuclear weapon and not end up with Armageddon,” Biden said.
He added that he was still “trying to figure” out Putin’s “off-ramp” in Ukraine.
“Where does he find
himself in a position that he does not only lose face but lose significant power within Russia?” Biden asked.
There’s some concern in the administration that Russia has determined it can use its nuclear arsenal in a manner short of a “full-blown” nuclear attack on Ukraine and face only limited reaction from U.S. and Western allies who are determined to keep the Ukraine conflict from turning into a broader war, according to an official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss administration thinking.
Putin has repeatedly alluded to using his country’s vast nuclear arsenal, including last month when he announced plans to conscript Russian men to serve in Ukraine.
“I want to remind you that
our country also has various means of destruction ... and when the territorial integrity of our country is threatened, to protect Russia and our people, we will certainly use all the means at our disposal,” Putin said. “It’s not a bluff.”
Officials in Washington have been gaming out scenarios in which Putin might decide to use a tactical nuclear weapon to make up for the failings of Russian troops in Ukraine.
Tactical weapons come in many sizes and varieties, most with a small fraction of the destructive power of the bombs the United States dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to end World War II in 1945. But they are hard to use and are difficult to control.
In late September,
Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said that any nuclear weapon use would result in “catastrophic consequences” for Russia, adding that in private communications with Moscow, the United States had “spelled out” how America and the world would react.
In Europe, leaders sought to turn down the volume after Biden’s stark warning.
French President Emmanuel Macron said it was crucial to speak with care on the nuclear threat.
“I have always refused to engage in political fiction, and especially ... when speaking of nuclear weapons,” Macron said at an EU summit. “On this issue, we must be very careful.”