U.S. Sounds Alarm Over Russian Threat, Prepares New Crackdown on Sanction Evaders

Top U.S. officials on Thursday said that they couldn't take "lightly” the possibility that Russia could use tactical nuclear weapons as it grows more desperate in its military attack on Ukraine, TURAN''s Washington correspondent reports.

“Given the potential desperation of President Putin and the Russian leadership, given the setbacks that they’ve faced so far militarily, none of us can take lightly the threat posed by a potential resort to tactical nuclear weapons or low-yield nuclear weapons,” CIA Director William Burns said referring to Putin’s early statements that he was putting Russia’s nuclear forces on a heightened state of alert.

The U.S. has warned that the Kremlin could use chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine, but Burns’ comments were the most extensive public warning about the potential threat of nuclear weapons.

In the meantime, the White House officials said on Thursday that the U.S. has not yet seen “practical evidence” of Russia moving to use such weapons.

The Biden administration is currently focused on ensuring Russia isn’t able to evade punishing global sanctions for its war in Ukraine, National security advisor Jake Sullivan said.

Speaking before The Economic Club of Washington, D.C., Sullivan said the administration is now focusing on enforcing the sanctions already levied against Russia, its officials and elites.

“But where our focus will be in the course of the coming days is on evasion,” he added.

The issue of sanctions was also discussed during a phone call between secretary Antony Blinken and Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, according to the Ukrainian side

When asked by TURAN about the next sanctions package, the State Department's spokesperson Ned Price said during a daily press briefing that as long as Russia continues to escalate its actions against the people of Ukraine, until and unless its brutality comes to an end, "we will continue to escalate our measures. And that would include additional financial and economic measures against the Russian Federation"

Price also said that the State Department now has a new office of Sanctions Coordination (OSC) which will oversee work on sanctions and further strengthen cooperation with allies and partners in the use of this critical tool.

Ambassador Jim O’Brien, who began serving this week after his confirmation by the Senate as the Department’s Head of OSC, will "work with the interagency, throughout the administration, but he’ll also work with allies and partners to ensure that our approach to sanctions, the implementation of sanctions, the development of sanctions – specific ones and sanctions authorities – are coordinated and implemented effectively with allies and partners around the world" Price said.

Alex Raufoglu

Washington D.C.