The White House on Wednesday said it was increasingly concerned by Moscow’s talk of using a nuclear weapon in Ukraine after a media report said senior Russian military officials had discussed how and when such a weapon should be used.
“We have become increasingly concerned about the potential over the course of these months,” said White House national security spokesman John Kirby.
Kirby did not confirm a New York Times report that senior Russian military officials were recently discussing when and how to use tactical nuclear weapons on the battlefield.
The report, which quoted unnamed US officials, said Russian President Vladimir Putin did not participate in the discussions and there was no indication that the Russian military decided to use the weapons.
But Kirby said any comments about Russia’s use of nuclear weapons are “deeply concerning” and said the United States takes them seriously.
He referred to Putin’s recent statements in which he spoke about nuclear weapons and referred to the bombs dropped by US forces on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki towards the end of World War II.
“We take note of that,” Kirby said.
“It’s increasingly worrying to what extent he feels he has to keep pushing to continue this war,” he said.
At the same time, Kirby reiterated, Washington sees no signs that Russia is preparing to use nuclear weapons, adding that US intelligence doesn’t necessarily see or know everything.
The United States has been warning Moscow for weeks over public statements by senior Russian officials that they could use nuclear weapons in Ukraine in certain cases, particularly when they felt Russia’s territorial integrity was under threat.
The latest threat came from former Russian President and senior Security Council official Dmitry Medvedev.
Medvedev said on Tuesday that Ukraine’s goal to retake all Russian-held territories, including the Donbass region and Crimea, is a “threat to the existence of our state”.
That, said Medvedev, is “a direct reason” to invoke nuclear deterrence.
However, Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said early Wednesday that Western media “deliberately pump up the issue of the use of nuclear weapons.”
Moscow has “not the slightest intention of getting involved,” he said, calling the Times report “very irresponsible.”
In September, Jake Sullivan, President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, said the United States had issued “very high-level” warnings to Russia about the “catastrophic consequences” of using nuclear weapons.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell warned on October 13 that Russian forces would be “annihilated” by the West if Putin used nuclear weapons against Ukraine.
