Increased security concerns over Putin’s possible use of tactical nuclear weapons in the Black Sea brought UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace to Washington, DC, on an urgent visit.
Wallace met on Tuesday with National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and the Secretary of State Bliken over shared security concerns.
State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel confirmed on Wednesday to The Pavlovic Today that Secretary Blinken is carefully monitoring the situation surrounding the conflict in Ukraine but that the US does not have indications that Putin is preparing to use nuclear weapons.
“Obviously, Secretary Bliken is paying attention to the issues surrounding the conflict in Ukraine quite closely and receives regular updates,” said Patel.
“I don’t have specifics to offer in this scenario, but what I would say again, is that we have not seen any reason to adjust our own nuclear posture and nor do we have any indications that Russia is preparing to use nuclear weapons,” said Patel.
“We’re going to continue to monitor this very carefully. Of course, these threats, we take them quite seriously. The use of this kind of rhetoric is irresponsible, as we’ve said throughout the course of this conflict,” Patel said of Putin.
“We’re not going to be intimidated by this rhetoric and we’re going to continue to pay close attention on this.”
Asked by The Pavlovic Today if Secretary Bliken is planning a meeting with the UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, Patel said that at the moment, “I don’t have any specific bilateral or diplomatic engagements for the Secretary to read out.”
In London, Armed Forces Minister James Heappey said Ben Wallace was meeting with the US officials for “the sort of conversations that [are] beyond belief really.”
Putin will face “severe consequences” if he resorts to nuclear weapons, No 10 warned today.
“We are very clear with Putin that the use of nuclear weapons will lead to severe consequences.”
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