- John Bolton said he was disturbed by Biden's comments about Putin's threats to use nuclear weapons in the war with Ukraine.
- "We have not faced the prospect of Armageddon since Kennedy and the Cuban missile crisis," Biden said.
Ex-national security adviser John Bolton said he was "disturbed" by President Joe Biden's recent remarks warning that Russian President Vladimir Putin's threats to use nuclear weapons in its war with Ukraine.
"I think any time we contemplate the potential use of nuclear weapons, we've got to take it seriously. But I also think we've got to be very clear-eyed about it," Bolton told CBS News on Friday. "And I think the president's comment overstated the gravity of the situation we're in right now."
"We have not faced the prospect of Armageddon since Kennedy and the Cuban missile crisis," the president said Thursday, explaining that he didn't think there was a way to use tactical nuclear weapons and not have it result in Armageddon.
"I was particularly disturbed when he said, 'you know, I can't imagine the use of a tactical nuclear weapon that doesn't lead to Armageddon," Bolton said. "And it's that chain of causality from one demonstration use of a tactical nuclear weapon that Vladimir Putin is currently threatening all the way up to an exchange of nuclear salvos between Russia and the United States."
Last month, Putin announced partial military mobilization, escalating the conflict, and threatened to use nuclear weapons."The territorial integrity of our motherland, our independence, and freedom will be secured, I repeat with all the means we have," Putin said in his address in September. "Those who try to blackmail us with nuclear weapons should know that the prevailing winds can turn in their direction."
Officials like Latvia's defense minister said that Putin was bluffing and made the threats to spook Western nations.
"It is not inevitable, but Putin would like us to think it's inevitable. He'd like to see people nervous. He's trying to deter us. He has done this several times already after his invasion of Ukraine. He's been bluffing each time," Bolton said during his interview with CBS News.
He continued: "There is a risk here of the use of nuclear weapons. I don't think we're in the circumstances where it's going to happen, although we watch it carefully. But it's very important for the West not to be deterred by Putin's use of this nuclear threat.
On Friday, White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said there's no indication that Russia is prepping to use nuclear weapons, to The Guardian reported,