Published on: 07/10/2022 – 13:06 Changed on: 07/10/2022 – 19:05
As Russia thinly threatens to use its nuclear weapons in the war in Ukraine, US President Joe Biden said on Thursday October 6 that he was “not kidding” and reminded that the world has “not been with the… possibility of an apocalypse” is Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis”.
Vladimir Putin is not joking, Joe Biden said when he spoke of “possible use of tactical nuclear weapons or biological or chemical weapons” because his army was “very underperforming”. And the American President to “conjure up a risk of using nuclear weapons for the first time since the Cuban missile crisis if things continue as they currently lend”.
In allusion to this 1962 crisis and the risk involved, the US President used the term “nuclear apocalypse” (“Nuclear Armageddon”).
A few hours later, the White House spokeswoman stepped aside: “We have no reason to adjust our own strategic nuclear position, nor do we have any indication that Russia is preparing for the imminent use of nuclear weapons. When asked if this more alarmist tone was related to new information from the United States, the spokeswoman replied, “No,” during a brief question-and-answer session aboard the plane that was taking Joe Biden on a trip to northwest Washington. .
“What is the exit door for Putin”
The New York Times points out that for sixty years, American presidents have seldom discussed the possible use of nuclear weapons, and in such a dark tone. Joe Biden did it at a fundraiser for Democratic Senate candidates. At this type of event, the Associated Press news agency points out, the head of state tends to be less guarded and more direct.
His security adviser had already stressed at the end of September that any use of nuclear weapons would have catastrophic consequences for Russia. “We’re trying to understand what the exit door is for Putin,” the US President said on Thursday. “How can he get out of there, position himself in such a way that he doesn’t lose face or a significant part of his power in Russia? »
► Also read: Ukraine: the undertones of Russia’s nuclear threat