Senior Russian military officials reportedly discussed in mid-October how and when they could use nuclear weapons on the battlefield in Ukraine.
Two US officials reportedly confirmed that senior Russian military officials discussed in mid-October how and when they might use nuclear weapons on the battlefield in Ukraine.
The intelligence concerned US officials because the relevant discussions came shortly after Russian President Vladimir Putin, seeing territory taken from his troops by Ukrainian forces, hinted that he might resort to nuclear weapons, officials told CBS. News this Wednesday.
Putin warned in late September that he would “certainly use all means at our disposal” to defend Russian territory.
Asked about the US intelligence on Wednesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed it as “deliberate pumping” of nuclear weapons rhetoric.
“We do not have the slightest intention to participate in this pumping and we consider it very, very irresponsible,” Peskov told reporters in Moscow.
In a statement shared with the outlet, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said he could not provide “any comment on the details of this report” but said the United States had been “clear from the beginning that the comments from Russia about the potential use of nuclear weapons are deeply concerning and we take them seriously.”
The conversation within the Russian military came as Moscow claimed, without offering any evidence, that Ukraine was preparing to use a radioactive “dirty bomb.”
Ukraine and its Western partners dismissed the claim as an attempt by Russia to create a pretext to blame Ukraine for its own possible use of such a device.
A dirty bomb is a device that uses conventional explosives to disperse radioactive material. These are not usually weapons stockpiled by national military forces, but are more often associated with terrorism.
Putin was not said to have been part of the talks, and Kirby and US officials who spoke to CBS News on condition of anonymity said there was no indication Russia was or is now making preparations to use a nuclear weapon.