For several months, the United States has been sending private messages to Moscow warning the Russian leadership about the serious consequences of using nuclear weapons.
The Washington Post writes about it.
According to the publication, the Biden administration as a whole decided to deliberately vaguely warn about the consequences of a nuclear strike, so the Kremlin is worried about how Washington might react.
The US State Department was involved in the private correspondence with Moscow, but officials did not say who delivered the messages or their content.
It is unclear whether the United States sent any new private messages in the hours after the Russian president issued his latest veiled nuclear threat on September 21, announcing a partial mobilization.
For years, U.S. nuclear experts have worried that Russia could use smaller tactical nuclear weapons, sometimes called "battlefield nuclear weapons," to end the war on its own terms.
US officials stepped up efforts at the UN General Assembly this week to deter Russia from using nuclear weapons.
Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, speaking at a meeting of the UN Security Council on Thursday, said that "Russia's reckless nuclear threats must be stopped immediately."
It will be recalled that the Pentagon announced that Putin's threats to use nuclear weapons will not affect military support for Ukraine.
