President Biden on Thursday said Russian President Vladimir Putin was “not joking” in his references to using nuclear weapons, warning that the world was facing its greatest nuclear threat since the Cuban Missile Crisis.
“We have not faced the prospect of armageddon since Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis,” Biden said at a fundraiser in New York City, citing the 1962 standoff with the Soviet Union.
“We’ve got a guy I know fairly well,” Biden continued, referencing Putin. “He’s not joking when he talks about potential use of tactical nuclear weapons or biological or chemical weapons because his military is, you might say, significantly underperforming.”
Biden, who was speaking at a Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee fundraiser at the home of James Murdoch, expressed skepticism that there was any way for Putin and Russia to use a smaller, tactical nuclear weapon without it leading to “armageddon.”
“I’m trying to figure out, what is Putin’s off-ramp? … Where does he find a way out?” Biden said. “Where does he find himself in a position that he does not not only lose face, but lose significant power within Russia?”
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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Biden warns of "armageddon" amid Putin nuclear threats https://t.co/5pxPeVCeXF pic.twitter.com/PxgCQ4qadq
— The Hill (@thehill) October 7, 2022
The Pentagon said it still has seen no signs that Putin is planning to launch nuclear weapons.
But Biden’s comments last night show how seriously the U.S. takes Putin’s threats to use nuclear weapons, a Defense Department spokesperson said. https://t.co/Rw1uLJdi8b
— POLITICO (@politico) October 7, 2022
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