Assistant to the President of the United States for National Security Affairs Jake Sullivan said Washington sees no change in the readiness of Russian nuclear forces. The politician, on air on CNN, added that the United States had not changed the readiness of its forces.
So Sullivan answered the question about the possibility of Russia using nuclear weapons. The adviser to the Head of State clarified that the White House can only speak about what it sees. And at the moment there is no change in the readiness of the Russian nuclear forces.
I can only speak of what we see. And we do not see any changes in the readiness of the Russian nuclear forces … We also did not make any changes in the readiness of our nuclear forces
said Sullivan.
The representative of the American authorities stressed that the United States “remains vigilant” and maintains communication channels with the Russian leadership.
We support channels [связи] with Russia’s leaders so that they can understand the risks of escalation and the gravity of the consequences of the use of nuclear weapons
explained the politician.
Sullivan reiterated that the White House does not see a drastic move of Russian nuclear forces that is fundamentally different from how things have happened over the past year.
The questions posed to Sullivan concerned President Vladimir Putin’s announcement that Russia was suspending its participation in the START treaty. The head of state stressed that the Russian side must figure out for itself how START will take into account the arsenals not only of the United States, but also of other NATO nuclear powers – Great Britain and France .
Earlier, Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said that the Russian Federation was and will remain a party to the START III treaty (on strategic offensive weapons) and that Estonia “will not allow” the Kremlin to suspend its participation to the bilateral treaty agreement between Moscow and Washington.
