LThe CIA director believes that the West should not be intimidated by the Kremlin’s nuclear agitation. Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Vladimir Putin has repeatedly threatened nuclear war. But, according to the head of American intelligence, William “Bill” J. Burns, not all of the Russian president’s statements should be taken literally. “Putin is a tyrant. He will continue these shows of force,” declared the CIA director on Saturday, September 7, visiting London alongside the head of MI6, Richard Moore, according to comments reported by The Guardian.
“We cannot afford to be intimidated by these threats. We have to be aware of them,” he continued, acknowledging nonetheless that the risks of escalation should not be taken “lightly.” According to Bill Burns, there was a “real risk” of Russia using nuclear weapons in Ukraine in the fall of 2022. “However, I have never believed, and this is the view of my agency, that we should be unnecessarily intimidated by this,” he said.
At the time, Russian troops had been pushed back into northern Ukraine and had abandoned Kherson in the south, raising the possibility of nuclear use. According to Bill Burns, following this threat, Joe Biden sent the CIA director to meet Sergei Naryshkin, his Russian counterpart, in Turkey “to make it very clear that […] Read more
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