Given the military setbacks for Russia in Ukraine, the possible threat of a Russian use of tactical nuclear bombs should not be taken lightly, according to CIA chief Bill Burns. Burns also referred to “possible desperation on the part of President Putin and the Russian leadership” in a lecture at a university in the US state of Georgia on Thursday.
Tactical nuclear weapons are understood to be nuclear weapons whose radius of action and explosive power is significantly smaller than that of strategic nuclear weapons. They could theoretically be used in combat as a powerful alternative to conventional weapons.
Burns said Moscow used threatening gestures to make statements about increasing readiness for its nuclear weapons. So far, however, the US has seen little practical evidence of this, such as troop movements or military preparations.
With his policy, US President Joe Biden is trying to “avoid a third world war, avoid a threshold beyond which a nuclear conflict becomes possible,” the CIA chief said. The President therefore made it clear that neither the US nor NATO would directly intervene in the war in Ukraine.
Concern in the West about Moscow’s possible nuclear weapons plans increased when Putin put Russia’s deterrent weapons on high alert at the start of the war in Ukraine. Russia also counts its nuclear bombs among these weapons.