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| No Signs Russia Plans to Use Nuclear Weapons |
Washington - Several Pentagon officials this week told reporters that the United States Department of Defense does not believe that a Russian nuclear strike is imminent. Even so, they stressed, Washington was still taking Moscow's threats "very seriously." "We do not judge that President Putin has made the decision to use nuclear weapons at this time," the Pentagon's press secretary, Brigadier General Patrick Ryder, told reporters at a briefing on Thursday.
He spoke after US President Joe Biden warned that the risk of nuclear conflict was at its highest level since the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. "For now, the US does not have any information that would warrant a change in its strategic deterrence posture," Ryder said, adding that Washington will continue to monitor the situation closely, as it takes the Russian threat “very seriously.”
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On Friday, another Pentagon spokesman, J. Todd Breasseale, told Politico that the US had still seen no indication that Russia was preparing for a nuclear strike. "To be clear, we see no reason to adjust our own strategic nuclear posture, nor do we have any indication that Russia is preparing to use nuclear weapons in the near future," he said.
Breasseale also accused the Kremlin of making reckless statements about the potential use of nuclear weapons. "The kind of irresponsible rhetoric we have seen is not the way for the leader of a nuclear-armed country to speak," he said. He warned that a nuclear attack of any scale would be catastrophic for the world and would have severe consequences.
Although Moscow shows no signs that it intends to use nuclear weapons, in a recent speech, President Vladimir Putin said that Russia has a variety of means of destruction, and that he would not hesitate to use them to defend the country. "This is not a bluff," he insisted.
On Thursday, Biden warned that a further escalation of hostilities between Russia, Ukraine and the West could lead to "Armageddon." On Friday, the Estonian military stated that Russia's threat of using nuclear weapons was "not too great." The remarks come amid British media reports suggesting that Russia is planning to carry out its nuclear drills which the Kremlin has denied.
Current Russian doctrine allows the use of nuclear weapons in the event of a nuclear strike on its territory or infrastructure, or if the very existence of the Russian state is threatened by nuclear or conventional weapons.