President Joe Biden (L) and Russian President Vladimir Putin.Photo: Joshua Roberts/Getty; Mikhail Svetlov/Getty
PresidentJoe Bidenissued a stark warning aboutVladimir Putinon Thursday, telling a crowd at a New York City fundraiser that the Russian president is “not joking” when it comes toveiled threats about using nuclear weapons. What’s more, Biden added, the world is as close to nuclear “Armageddon” as it has been in decades.
“First time since the Cuban Missile Crisis, we have a direct threat of the use [of a] nuclear weapon if in fact things continue down the path they are going,” Biden, 79, told the crowd at the event. “I’m trying to figure out what is Putin’s off ramp?”
Biden continued: “Where does [Putin] find a way out? Where does he find himself in a position that he does not only lose face but lose significant power within Russia?”
Elsewhere in the speech, Biden said the world has “not faced the prospect of Armageddon since Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis.”
Putin, he added, is “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.”
Just last month, Putin, 70,called for a partial mobilizationof Russian citizens amid the ongoing invasion, saying in a speech: “When the territorial integrity of our country is threatened, we will certainly use all the means at our disposal to protect Russia and our people. It’s not a bluff,” per a Reuters report.
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Others have openly worried that Putin could turn to nuclear weapons as his military underperforms, though they haven’t the same stark terms as Biden.
Speaking to60 Minutesin September, Secretary of State Antony Blinken saidthe U.S. has been in contact with Russiaconcerning the “loose talk” of using nuclear weapons.
“It’s very important that Moscow hear from us and know from us that the consequences would be horrific,” Blinken said. “And we’ve made that very clear.”
Earlier this week, White House press secretaryKarine Jean-Pierresaid in a briefing: “We have not seen any reason to adjust our own strategic nuclear posture, nor do we have indication that Russia is preparing to imminently use nuclear weapons.”
It’s not the first time Biden has gone beyond other U.S. officials in his assessment of the Russian president. In a speech delivered in Poland in March, Biden grabbed headlines when he said, “For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power,” referring to Putin.
The White House laterclarified that remark, with one official telling CNN: “The president’s point was that Putin cannot be allowed to exercise power over his neighbors or the region. He was not discussing Putin’s power in Russia, or regime change.”
That same month, Biden called Putin a “war criminal” when asked about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and he has previously described the Russian autocratas a “killer"who does “not have a soul.”
source: people.com
