Once again, Vladimir Putin’s workweek isn’t off to the best start.
The Russian tyrant is now facing an immense backlash over this order to mobilize 300,000 citizens for military service in Ukraine, where his already-unprepared army has been utterly outmatched by the defending force. In places like Dagestan, local protesters have even begun tussling with police – something that rarely occurs on Russian soil.
But Putin is not only facing trouble from inside Russia, as the United States has now dropped a rather serious threat against the Kremlin should they decide to use a nuclear weapon – something that they’ve been seemingly threatening for some time now.
The United States would respond decisively to any Russian use of nuclear weapons against Ukraine and has spelled out to Moscow the “catastrophic consequences” it would face, U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said on Sunday.
Sullivan’s remarks represented the latest American warning following the thinly veiled nuclear threat made by Vladimir Putin last Wednesday in a speech in which the Russian president also announced his country’s first wartime military mobilization since World War Two.
“If Russia crosses this line, there will be catastrophic consequences for Russia. The United States will respond decisively,” Sullivan told NBC’s “Meet the Press” program.
Sullivan didn’t go into much greater detail, but Putin knew exactly what he meant.
Sullivan did not describe the nature of the planned U.S. response in his comments on Sunday but said the United States has privately to Moscow “spelled out in greater detail exactly what that would mean.” Sullivan said that the United States has been in frequent, direct contact with Russia, including during the last few days to discuss the situation in Ukraine and Putin’s actions and threats.
Putin’s nuclear threats have largely been considered a sign of weakness and desperation, as the Kremlin’s troops are being routinely trounced on the battlefield, and with his mobilization of civilians being met with skepticism about how Russia will be able to equip them in their current, disheveled state.
