The CIA made a thunderous revelation. Russian President Vladimir Putin came close to pushing the nuclear button and triggering a global catastrophe.
But Western leaders should not be intimidated by the Kremlin’s threats of nuclear escalation. Confidence in this was expressed by the director of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) during a debate in London on whether Storm Shadow missiles should be used by the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) to strike deep into Russia, reports the British newspaper The Guardian. transmitted Dnes.bg and BTA.
Burns, who is visiting the UK capital, stressed that “the US has dismissed fears” of a Russian nuclear strike in autumn 2022, and noted that Moscow’s threats should not always be taken literally.
“Putin … will continue to rattle sabers from time to time. We can’t afford to be intimidated by that … we have to be mindful of that. The US has provided tremendous support to Ukraine and I’m sure the president will consider other ways we can support them,” Burns commented.
As for Ukraine, the CIA director was asked if Washington and other Western capitals were worried about the risk of escalating the war by authorizing the Storm Shadow long-range missile to be used to strike targets deep inside Russian territory.
“None of us should take lightly the risks of escalation,” Burns warned, acknowledging that the CIA had been convinced during the first year of the war that Russia could use tactical nuclear weapons on the battlefield.
“There was a point in the fall of 2022 when I think there was a real risk of potential use of tactical nuclear weapons by Russia in Ukraine,” the CIA director explained. But in his words, “I never thought … that we should be needlessly frightened by it’.
#CIA #thunderous #revelation #Putin #verge #pushing #nuclear #button
