The military defeats that Kyiv and the western capitals say Russia’s army is suffering in Ukraine could lead Russian President Vladimir Putin to resort to the use of tactical nuclear weapons, or small arms weapons, in that country, he said yesterday. CIA, William Burns.
“Given that President Putin and Russian leaders are likely to sink into despair, given the military defeats they have suffered so far, none of us can take lightly the threat of resorting to regular nuclear weapons, or (nuclear) weapons. “low power,” Mr Burns said during a speech in Atlanta.
The Kremlin has said it has alerted Russia to its nuclear program, but “we have not seen any concrete evidence such as the development of (nuclear weapons) or other military measures that could increase our concerns,” he said. spy service, which was addressed to an audience of Georgia Tech University students.
“Obviously we are very worried. “I know that President (US Joe) Biden is deeply concerned about the danger of World War III and is doing everything he can to prevent us from reaching a point where nuclear war is possible.”
Russia has more than 2,000 so-called regular nuclear weapons, less powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima, and its military doctrine does not theoretically preclude the use of low-power nuclear weapons in the event of a recurrence. war with the West.
However, this hypothesis presupposes that “NATO would intervene” in the war in Ukraine and this “is not something that is foreseen, as President (Joe Biden) has clearly said”, he added.
Mr Burns, a former US ambassador to Moscow, also said he could not find enough harsh words to describe Vladimir Putin, who he described as “revanchist”, “stubborn”, “apostle of revenge”, immersed. over the years in an “explosive mix of grievances, ambition and insecurity” and “shows daily that a falling force can be as destabilizing as a rising force”.
Mr Burns described US intelligence assistance to Ukrainian forces as vital to the war in Ukraine, and reiterated US allegations of “horrific crimes” committed by Russian troops in Bhutan, which Moscow denies as “monstrous”. of facts.
In the same speech, Mr. Burns described the “ambitions” of China, a major US competitor in every field, as “very threatening.”
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