US President Joe Biden ruled on Thursday that Russia’s threats to use nuclear weapons in the armed conflict in Ukraine raise the risk of “apocalypse” for the world, for the first time since the Cuban missile crisis at the height of the Cold War.

“We haven’t faced the prospect of an apocalypse since its [Αμερικανού πρώην προέδρου Τζον] Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis,” Mr. Biden said in a 1962 New York midterm fundraiser. He also warned that his Russian counterparthe is not jokingunder such threats.

“For the first time since the Cuban Missile Crisis, there is an imminent threat of the use of nuclear weapons if everything goes the way it is now,” the White House resident said.

From October 14 to October 28, 1962, the missile crisis set in Cuba by the Soviet Union and detected by the United States terrorized the entire planet, raising fears that a nuclear war would break out.

Amid a Ukrainian counter-offensive backed by Western military aid, Vladimir Putin raised the possibility of using nuclear weapons on live TV on September 21.

He said he was ready to use “every means” in Russia’s arsenal to confront the West, which he accused of wanting to “destroy” his country. “This is not a bluff,” he added.

According to experts, tactical nuclear weapons, less powerful than strategic nuclear weapons, could be used.

But Joe Biden warned that even the use of tactical nuclear weapons could lead to a larger fire. “I don’t think you could easily (use) tactical nuclear weapons without eventually causing nuclear Armageddon,” he ruled.

He said Vladimir Putin “isn’t kidding when he talks about the possible use of tactical nuclear, biological or chemical weapons” because the Russian military “one might say” doesn’t behave as well in war, the US president said.

“We’re trying to figure out where Putin’s exit door is,” Joe Biden said. “How can this come out?” he continued, referring to the end of the war in Ukraine. “How could he do this without damaging his reputation and losing much of his power in Russia?”

Source: RES-IPE