WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Despite Russian threats to Ukraine and NATO about the use of nuclear weapons, the Pentagon has not seen any changes that would lead it to alter the posture of American nuclear forces, a spokesman said on Tuesday.
“We obviously take these threats seriously. But at this stage, we’ve not seen anything that would cause us to adjust our own nuclear posture at this time,” Brigadier General Patrick Ryder told a news briefing.
Pressed on whether there had been any new Russian movements of its nuclear forces, Ryder declined to elaborate beyond saying the United States did not “have any reason to adjust our posture at this stage.”
An ally of President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday outlined the scenario of a nuclear strike on Ukraine, saying that the U.S.-led NATO military alliance would be too scared of a ‘nuclear apocalypse’ to directly enter the conflict in response.
(Reporting by Phil Stewart, Editing by Franklin Paul)
