White House calls Russian defense official's comments on nuclear weapons "reckless and irresponsible"

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https://www.cnn.com/europe/live-news/russia-ukraine-war-news-07-31-23/index.html

White House calls Russian defense official's comments on nuclear weapons "reckless and irresponsible"

From CNN's Arlette Saenz

The White House is criticizing senior Russian defense official Dmitry Medvedev’s comments suggesting Russia may resort to nuclear weapons if Ukraine is successful in its counteroffensive.

A National Security Council spokesperson called the rhetoric "reckless and irresponsible" on Monday. So far, the US has not seen any indications Russia is preparing to turn to nuclear weapons, the spokesperson added. 

“The use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine — or anywhere — would be disastrous for the world and would have severe consequences for Russia," the spokesperson said.

“We continue to monitor this closely, but we have not seen any reason to adjust our own nuclear posture nor any indications that Russia is preparing to use a nuclear weapon,” they added.

Some context: Medvedev, the deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, made the comments in a Telegram post. They are the latest in a series of nuclear threats made by Moscow since launching its war against Ukraine. 

"Just imagine that the offensive… in tandem with NATO, succeeded and ended up with part of our land being taken away. Then we would have to use nuclear weapons by virtue of the stipulations of the Russian Presidential Decree,” Medvedev said in the post. 

“There simply wouldn’t be any other solution,” he added. “Our enemies should pray to our fighters that they do not allow the world to go up in nuclear flames.”

US President Joe Biden said earlier this month that he does not believe Russia would deploy nuclear weapons.