US President Joe Biden has predicted that Russian President Vladimir Putin will not act on the possibility of Russia using nuclear weapons.
In an interview with CNN Tonight with Jake Tapper, which was released on the 11th, Biden said, “I don’t think he will” when asked if Russian President Putin would order the use of nuclear weapons.
He went on to criticize publicly mentioning the possibility of using nuclear weapons as “irresponsible”, stating that implementation would have disastrous consequences.
Shortly thereafter, when the host asked if he agreed with the remarks of French President Emmanuel Macron, who evaluated Russian President Putin as a ‘rational actor’, President Biden replied, “I think he is a rational actor.”
Earlier, on the 6th, President Biden expressed concern about Russia’s nuclear threat by using the term ‘Armageddon’.
Since then, even though major US officials, including the White House, have said that there are no signs of Russia’s actual use of nuclear weapons, concerns about nuclear war have spread, affecting the global economy and financial investment.
Biden’s reference to Russian President Putin as ‘reasonable’ in this interview is urging him not to make the extreme choice of using nuclear weapons, according to major media outlets.
■ Limit the possibility of talks…leave room for conversation
Biden also said that he would not negotiate with Russia on Ukraine in the absence of Ukraine, and that he had no intention of meeting with Putin right away.
Still, he said, “If he comes up to me at the G20 and says he wants to talk about Britney Greiner’s release, I’ll meet him.”
Britney Greiner is an American basketball player detained in Russia.
Biden added that whether or not a dialogue will happen “depends on what President Putin wants to talk about.”
In this regard, the Asia Exchange and Trust Building Conference (CICA) to be held in Kazakhstan on the 12th is drawing attention.
This is because Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (renamed ‘Turkiye’), who has served as a mediator between Ukraine and Russia since the start of the war on February 24, is expected to hold bilateral talks with President Putin at the CICA.
If Erdogan talks productively with Putin about the Ukraine crisis, European media commented that it could lead to the G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia next month.
■ “Putin’s purpose was not rational”
Meanwhile, Biden pointed out in this interview that Russian President Putin made a mistake about the invasion of Ukraine.
President Biden recalled that “in a speech shortly after Putin (Russian President) made the decision to start the war, he expressed the idea that he needed to become a leader to unite all Russian-speaking people (including residents of Ukraine),” he recalled. was,” he said.
“President Putin mistakenly thought that the Ukrainians would succumb to a Russian invasion,” he said.
“Putin’s purpose was not rational,” Biden said.
This is Jongsu Oh from VOA News.