US President Joe Biden on Thursday was skeptical of Russian President Putin's statement that he has no intention of using nuclear weapons in Ukraine, Reuters reports.
"If he doesn't intend to, why does he keep talking about it? Why does he talk about the possibility of using tactical nuclear weapons?" - said Biden in an interview with NewsNation.
"He was very dangerous in the way he approached it," Biden said.
Putin, in his speech earlier that day, downplayed the significance of the nuclear confrontation with the West, insisting that Russia did not threaten to use nuclear weapons and only reacted to nuclear "blackmail" by Western leaders.
In recent weeks, Putin and other Russian officials have repeatedly said that Russia could use nuclear weapons to defend its territorial integrity.
Earlier in an interview with CNN, the official representative of the White House of National Security, John Kirby, said that perhaps Russia is considering the possibility of using the so-called "dirty bomb" and is creating an excuse to accuse Ukraine. But he said the United States has so far seen no signs.
"They often accuse others of what they themselves are doing or about to do. That's why we have to take it seriously," Kirby said of Putin's accusations. "I will also tell you that even today we see no signs that the Russian planning to use a dirty bomb or even preparing to do so."