U.S. Holding Private Discussion with Russia Concerning Nuclear Weapons Threats

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan has said that the U.S. has had private, high-level talks with leaders in Moscow about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s threat to use nuclear weapons amid the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.

Sullivan explained that the Biden administration is trying to prevent a “rhetorical tit for tat” between the two countries.

“If Russia crosses this line, there will be catastrophic consequences for Russia. The United States will respond decisively,” Sullivan said in an interview with moderator Chuck Todd on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

“Now, in private channels we have spelled out in greater detail exactly what that would mean, but we want to be able to have the credibility of speaking directly to senior leadership in Russia and laying out for them what the consequences would be without getting into a rhetorical tit for tat publicly,” Sullivan said. Putin last week threatened the use of nuclear weapons, further heightening growing concerns about their potential use in the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Sullivan stated that the U.S. has been in contact with senior Russian officials “frequently” over the last few months, and as recently as in the last few days – despite worries since the start of the war that the U.S. was struggling to get in touch with Moscow.

Also yesterday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin might not be bluffing in his latest threats of using nuclear weapons.

“Look, maybe yesterday it was bluff,” Zelensky said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” during an interview with moderator Margaret Brennan.

“Now, it could be a reality,” Zelensky continued.

“Let’s look, what is a contemporary use of nuclear weapons or nuclear blackmail? He targeted and occupied our nuclear power plant and the city of Enerhodar.”

After facing steep territorial losses from a Ukrainian counter-offensive, Putin in a nationwide address last Wednesday called up to 300,000 reservists to aid Russia, also threatening to use the country’s nuclear weapons.

“This is not a bluff,” Putin said. “And those who try to blackmail us with nuclear weapons should know that the weathervane can turn and point towards them.”

When asked by Brennan if Europe can be stable if Putin remains in power, Zelensky said “no.”

“They started threatening us with nuclear weapons,” Zelensky said.

“Will the world depend on one country or one person? The world has to make a decision. We have made our decision. We will not depend on one person, who is not a citizen of our country.”

The Kremlin is also orchestrating referendums in four occupied regions to create a pretext for their annexation.

“Those people who don’t come to referendum, you know, Russians can turn off their electricity and won’t give them an opportunity to live a normal human life,” Zelensky said on CBS.

“They force people, they throw them in prisons. They force them to come to these pseudo-referenda.”

Zelensky also called Putin’s government “terrorists,” noting Russian shelling near Ukrainian nuclear plants as well as mass graves uncovered in recent days.

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“He knows that he’s losing the war,” Zelensky said. “In the battlefield, Ukraine has seized the initiative. He cannot explain to his society why, and he is looking for answers to these questions.”

Although he couldn’t confirm exact numbers, Zelensky said “thousands” of children have been forced to go into Russia.

Zelensky characterised recent Russian aggression as amounting to genocide, referencing evidence of torture.

“These are horrible elements of genocide of the Ukrainian population, the tortures that I’ve mentioned,” Zelensky told Brennan. “Unfortunately, we have not de-occupied the full territory of Ukraine that has been occupied by Russia since Feb. 24. So, a lot of these tortures and other events are still ahead of us.” The Nation

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