The statements of Russian President Vladimir Putin about nuclear weapons were taken seriously by the US administration, while Washington does not intend to increase the level of readiness of its nuclear forces. She announced this on Friday, September 23, during briefing White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.
“Undoubtedly, we take these threats very seriously. But at the moment we see no reason to change our own level of readiness of nuclear forces, ”she said.
The press secretary of the Pentagon, Brigadier General of the US Air Force Patrick Ryder spoke about the same the day before, on September 22. According to him, the degree of readiness of the country’s nuclear forces remained unchanged in the light of recent statements by the Russian leadership.
Questions about the level of readiness of the US nuclear arsenal began to be heard against the backdrop of a statement by the President of Russia, in which he indicated his intention to use all the means at its disposal to protect the territorial integrity and people, including nuclear weapons, to protect the Russian Federation.
The Russian leader in the same statement drew attention to the fact that the United States, Great Britain and the European Union are pushing Ukraine to transfer military operations to Russian territory. He clarified that nuclear blackmail was also used by the West: some representatives of states talk about the admissibility of using nuclear weapons against Russia. At the same time, Putin recalled that the Russian Federation also has various means of destruction.
On September 21, US President Joe Biden said at the UN General Assembly in New York that the United States sees Putin’s statement as a threat to Europe and a threat of violating the nuclear nonproliferation regime.
However, on August 24, British Prime Minister Liz Truss, who was then the country’s foreign minister, announced that she would be ready to use nuclear weapons “if necessary” when she became prime minister.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on August 22 that the risk of nuclear conflict has become the most serious in decades. He added that countries with nuclear weapons should commit themselves not to be the first to use them.
In February, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced his desire to initiate a summit of the countries participating in the Budapest Memorandum and allowed the country to withdraw from the Budapest Agreement, which established the non-nuclear status of the state.
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