US Officials React to Putin’s Nuclear Threat but Say Chances Are Low
Biden administration officials and some of their predecessors have expressed anxiety over Russian President Vladimir Putin’s warning that he’ll use nuclear weapons if Ukraine tries to recover Kremlin-occupied territory that Putin announced the annexation of on Sept. 30.
“To be clear, the guy who makes that decision, I mean, it’s one man. There are no checks on Mr. Putin. Just as he made the irresponsible decision to invade Ukraine, you know, he could make another decision,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told CNN on Sept. 30.
Putin made an indirect hint that he’s contemplating the use of nuclear weapons on Sept. 30 while addressing hundreds of Russian lawmakers and governors in a grand Kremlin hall when he mentioned that the United States is the only country that has ever used a nuclear weapon, adding that: “By the way, they created a precedent.”…