US privately warned Russia against using nuclear weapons

You United States communicated privately to Russia in recent months that there will be consequences if Moscow chooses to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine according to information from US authorities.

It was not immediately clear how or when the notices were sent. The State Department was involved, according to a ministry official.

The Biden administration also relied heavily on intelligence channels to send sensitive messages to Russia throughout the war process, including recent dispatches during negotiations over Americans wrongfully detained.

The warnings, first reported by The Washington Post, came as Russian President Vladimir Putin, threatened to resort to nuclear weapons amid a series of embarrassing battlefield losses.

In a speech on Wednesday (21), he warned that “in the event of a threat to the territorial integrity of our country and to defend Russia and our people, we will certainly make use of all weapons systems available to us. This is not a bluff.”

US officials stressed that this is not the first time Putin has threatened to resort to a nuclear strike since the invasion of Ukraine began in February, although some analysts saw that threat as more specific and an escalation in the Russian president’s speech towards previous rhetoric.

The US has also tried to stop Russia from using a nuclear weapon in public warnings in the past and has made the issue a topic of General meeting gives United Nations Organization (UN) this week in New York.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Thursday that Russia’s “reckless nuclear threats must stop immediately”.

US President Joe Biden, who appeared on CBS’ “60 Minutes” last week, said his message to Putin if he was considering using nuclear weapons was: “No. Not. Not. No”.

The US reaction “would have consequences” but would depend “on the extent of what they do”, Biden pointed out, without providing further details.

For now, senior CIA officials have publicly reported that they have seen no signs that Russia is preparing to use nuclear weapons.

But some military analysts are concerned that Russia may try to use a so-called tactical or battlefield nuclear weapon in response to its poor performance in Ukraine — a tactic sometimes called “scaling down.”

Intelligence officials believe Putin would likely only resort to that option if he felt Russia or his regime was existentially threatened, and it’s unclear whether he would feel losing his war in Ukraine would fit that description.