The White House has not seen any new intelligence to indicate there is an imminent threat of Russia using nuclear weapons, even as President Biden warned that the rhetoric coming from Moscow has put the world at its greatest nuclear risk since the Cuban Missile Crisis.
“We have not seen any reason to adjust our own strategic nuclear posture, nor do we have indications that Russia is preparing to imminently use nuclear weapons,” press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters aboard Air Force One on Friday.
Jean-Pierre downplayed the severity of Biden’s rhetoric, arguing he was reinforcing the administration’s consistent message that Russia’s threats are "irresponsible" and should be taken seriously.
“That’s what the president was making very clear,” she said.
Biden, speaking at a Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee fundraiser at the New York City home of businessman James Murdoch on Thursday, expressed doubt that Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russia could use a smaller, tactical nuclear weapon without it leading to “armageddon.”
“We have not faced the prospect of armageddon since Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis,” Biden said, citing the 1962 standoff with the Soviet Union.
Biden’s comments are some of the starkest yet from U.S. officials about the threat of Russia using a nuclear weapon and dramatically escalating its war in Ukraine.
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