"Nuclear War CANNOT Be Won"

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki is pressed over and over by reporters about the prospect of nuclear war and heightened rhetoric coming from Russian Pres. Vladimir Putin.

Q: In light of President Putin putting Russia’s nuclear forces into “special combat readiness,” has the United States changed its nuclear posture?

MS. PSAKI: Well, let me first start by saying that throughout the crisis, Russia and President Putin have falsely alleged that it is under threat, including from Ukraine, including from NATO. Neither the United States nor NATO has any desire or intention for conflict with Russia. And we think provocative rhetoric like this regarding nuclear weapons is dangerous, adds to the risk of miscalculation, should be avoided, and we’ll not indulge in it.

We are assessing President Putin’s directive and, at this time, we see no reason to change our own alert levels. But it’s also important to remember that, even over the course of the last several months and years, when we have had significant disagreements with Russia over a range of issues, Russia and the United States have long agreed that nuclear use would have devastating consequences and have stated many times, including earlier this year, that a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought.

So we have not — had seen reason to change our alert levels, and we are — see obvious, significant danger in escalatory rhetoric.

what’s the U.S. doing to reduce the possibility of nuclear war?

MS. PSAKI: Well, I think, one, we are not escalating our own rhetoric. Two, we are certainly assessing what President Putin’s comments mean. But, as I noted a little bit earlier, we have not changed our own posture. What we are trying to do is reduce the tension; take the — the tenor of the rhetoric down; and make clear that we have seen this pattern in the past, which is posing threats or suggesting, through misinformation of sorts, that there are threats posed to President Putin in Russia that don’t exist.

on the nuclear rhetoric we’ve been hearing from Putin: Does this influence at all the upcoming Nuclear Policy Review?

MS. PSAKI: In terms of how we — our relationship with — look, I would say — it’s a good question, Jacqui. But I would say what’s important for people to note — and this is why I noted it a little bit earlier — is that even at moments where we had huge tension with President Putin and Russia around the 2016 election, around the invasion of Georgia, around their prior invasion of Ukraine, it was agreed that escalatory rhetoric around nuclear ambitions was dangerous. And that was something we committed to with Russia not to pursue.

So, you know, we — I think, for right now, we’re going to remind the global community of those commitments.

Just a short time ago, the President was asked by our colleagues here if Americans should be concerned about a nuclear threat. He said very firmly, “No.” Can you explain what gives him that confidence?

MS. PSAKI: Because, as I said a little bit earlier, while we think provocative rhetoric regarding nuclear weapons is dangerous and adds to the risk of miscalculation and should be avoided — which we’re not going to indulge in — we are continuing to assess President Putin’s directive and, at this time, we see no reason to change our own alert levels.

We’ve also seen, throughout this crisis, President Putin falsely allege that they are under threat and use that as a predicate for taking more aggressive action. So, we assess — we have our own capacities and capabilities here, but nuclear war cannot be won.

And what everybody should be doing around the world is taking steps to reduce the rhetoric, reduce the tension, and that’s certainly what our objective is.

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