Putin facing setbacks: CIA warns of nuclear risk

Military setbacks in Ukraine might prompt Russian President Vladimir Putin to resort to a tactical or low-power nuclear weapon there, CIA chief William Burns said Thursday.

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“Given that President Putin and the Russian leadership may sink into despair, given the setbacks they have suffered so far from a military point of view, none of us can take the threat posed by the potential use of tactical nuclear weapons or low-power nuclear weapons,” Burns said during a speech in Atlanta.

The Kremlin has spoken of putting its nuclear forces on alert “but we haven’t really seen any concrete signs such as deployments or military measures that might aggravate our concerns”, added the head of the main American intelligence agency, speaking to students at Georgia Tech University.

“Obviously we are very worried. I know that President (Joe) Biden is deeply concerned regarding the risk of World War III and is doing everything to avoid getting to the point where a nuclear conflict becomes possible,” he added.

Russia has many tactical nuclear weapons, less powerful than the Hiroshima bomb, in accordance with its “escalation-de-escalation” doctrine which would be to first use a low-powered nuclear weapon to regain the advantage. in the event of a conventional conflict with the West.

But this assumption implies that “NATO is intervening militarily on the ground in Ukraine during this conflict, and that is not something, as the president has made clear, that is planned,” he said. He underlines.

Recalling having served as United States Ambassador to Moscow, Mr. Burns had no words harsh enough for a “revengeful”, “stubborn” Vladimir Putin, who over the years has sunk into an “explosive mix of grievances, of ambition and insecurity”.

“Every day, Putin demonstrates that a declining power can be as destabilizing as a rising power,” he added.