WASHINGTON – The CIA director said on Thursday that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “potential desperation” to win a semblance of victory in Ukraine could tempt him to order the use of low-yielding tactical or nuclear weapons, publicly discussing for the first time concerns that ran through the White House during the seven-week conflict.
Director William J. Burns, who served as US ambassador to Russia and is the member of the administration that has dealt with Mr Putin most often, said the potential detonation of such weapons – even as a warning shot – is possible, leaving the United States “Very concerned.” But he was quick to warn that so far, despite Mr Putin’s frequent calls for nuclear threats, he has seen no “practical evidence” of the types of military deployments or arms movements that would suggest such a move is inevitable.
“Given the potential despair of President Putin and the Russian leadership, given the military failures they have faced so far, none of us can take lightly the threat of a potential resort to tactical or nuclear tactical weapons. low-yield weapons, “Mr Burns said during a question-and-answer session after a speech at the Georgia Institute of Technology.
He was speaking in response to a question from former Senator Sam Nunn of Georgia, who helped create the program that exported nuclear weapons from Ukraine and other former Soviet states 30 years ago.
Tactical weapons are sometimes called “nuclear bombs on the battlefield”, smaller weapons that can be fired from a mortar or even exploded like a mine, as opposed to “strategic” weapons that are placed on intercontinental ballistic missiles. Russia has a large arsenal of tactical weapons; The United States retains relatively little. Low-yield nuclear weapons are designed to produce a relatively small explosion, which sometimes blurs the distinction between conventional and nuclear weapons.
Mr Burns also argued that revealing Mr Putin’s intentions to US intelligence officials before the outbreak of the war had made it harder for Mr Putin to hide the “brutal brutality” his forces used in Ukraine. , reminiscent of the damage done by Russia. forces deployed to Chechnya in the 1990s.
“I have watched over the years as Putin suffocates in a combustible combination of complaining, ambition and insecurity,” Mr Burns said. He said the Russian president had fueled resentment against the West for decades, convinced that the United States had taken advantage of Russia’s weakness since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
President Biden and his national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, acknowledged on Thursday that the White House was discussing sending a senior official to Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, in a show of support for President Vladimir Zelensky’s government. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson recently embarked on a secret train trip to Kyiv.
Mr Sullivan said the White House had briefly considered Mr Biden’s entry into Ukraine, but as soon as it became clear “what footprint this would require, what assets it would take from Ukrainians as well as the United States” in order to protect him, the idea was rejected.
When he was pressured by reports that he, Secretary of State Anthony J. Blinken or Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III could go to Kyiv, Mr Sullivan declined to discuss, saying “if and when that happens, we want to make sure it’s done in a very safe way.” Mr Biden told reporters that no decision has been taken to send a messenger.
Updated
April 14, 2022, 8:18 pm ET
Mr Sullivan also said that in the coming days, the United States would declare repression against countries and companies violating Western sanctions against Moscow imposed after the invasion began in late February.
The trade ministry on Thursday identified 10 planes flying in or flying from Belarus with the apparent intention of registering them in Russia. Sanctions will impede the servicing or refueling of aircraft internationally and effectively ground them.
Mr Sullivan had made a similar vow to fight violators just before Mr Biden’s trip to Brussels and Warsaw last month. But on Thursday, speaking at the Economic Club in Washington, he said he believed some of the sanctions – especially control over defense technology exports – were beginning to hurt Russia’s military readiness.
The war between Russia and Ukraine: Key developments
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Strike on Russian forces. The flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet suffered catastrophic damage that forced the crew to abandon it. Russia has said the fire caused damage, although Ukraine says it hit the ship with missiles. The ship subsequently sank while being towed to port.
A boost for NATO. Finland and Sweden are considering applying to join the alliance. Dmitry Medvedev, Russia’s former president and prime minister, said Moscow would be forced to “seriously strengthen” its defense in the Baltic states if the two countries join.
“Russia’s ability to re-equip and replenish,” he said, is slowing because many of its systems “rely on Western microchips and components.”
“They are running out of stockpiles of some of the high-end weapons,” Sullivan added, although he acknowledged that Russia’s continued purchase of natural gas was helping to fund the war.
“I’m not sitting here and I guess we’ve starved them so much of these resources that they literally can’t put up an army and keep trying to make progress on the battlefield,” Mr Sullivan said. But he said Washington was stepping up efforts to help Europe abandon Russian gas by supplying liquefied natural gas from the United States.
But Mr Sullivan also said he had so far seen no evidence that China was intervening to help Putin with military or financial aid. His statement was remarkable because Mr. Biden, in a conversation with President Xi Jinping of China four weeks ago, had warned of US sanctions if China supported the military effort. But evidence since then suggests that despite Mr Putin and Mr Xi’s declaration in February that their relationship has no “borders”, China actually seems to have mixed views on how much to support the war.
Mr Burns and Mr Sullivan have acknowledged that the war is entering a new phase now that Russia appears to have narrowed its target to take over the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine, where pro-Russian separatists have been fighting since 2014.
General Philip Breedlove, a former retired Allied Commander-in-Chief in Europe, said Thursday that while Mr Putin may be able to portray his closer operation as a victory, the war will be a loss for Russia in the long run. plan.
“Ukraine will still try to fight again what I call the American Revolutionary War, with shootings, counterattacks and ambushes,” said General Breedlove. “It’s just going to be a lot harder for them.”
By relocating his forces to the east, Mr Putin is seeking to move the war to more favorable territory, trying to make it harder for Ukrainian forces to adhere to this tactic. “They are ready to fight the war they really want,” said General Breedlove. “They want to meet force against force in open fields.
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