London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Wednesday, Oct 08, 2025

U.S. cannot 'take lightly' threat Russia could use nuclear weapons - CIA chief

U.S. cannot 'take lightly' threat Russia could use nuclear weapons - CIA chief

The threat of Russia potentially using tactical or low-yield nuclear weapons in Ukraine cannot be taken lightly, but the CIA has not seen a lot of practical evidence reinforcing that concern, CIA Director William Burns said on Thursday.
Burns' most extensive public comments since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24 underscored concerns that the biggest attack against a European state since 1945 risks escalating to the use of nuclear weapons.

Earlier on Thursday, Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council and a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, warned NATO that Moscow would deploy nuclear weapons and hypersonic missiles in Kaliningrad, a Russian enclave in the heart of Europe, if Sweden and Finland joined the Atlantic alliance.

Burns spoke at Georgia Tech of the "potential desperation" and setbacks dealt Putin, whose forces have suffered heavy losses and have been forced to retreat from some parts of northern Ukraine after failing to capture Kyiv.

For those reasons, "none of us can take lightly the threat posed by a potential resort to tactical nuclear weapons or low-yield nuclear weapons," Burns said.

That said, despite "rhetorical posturing" by the Kremlin about putting the world's largest nuclear arsenal on high alert, "We haven't seen a lot of practical evidence of the kind of deployments or military dispositions that would reinforce that concern.”

Tactical and low-yield nuclear weapons refer to those designed for use on the battlefield, of which some experts estimate Russia has about 2,000 that can be delivered by air, naval and ground forces.

Burns' comments came in response to a question from former U.S. Senator Sam Nunn, a leading arms control advocate, at the end of the CIA chief's first public speech since taking the helm of the premier U.S. spy agency in March 2021.

In a wide-ranging address, the former career U.S. diplomat said U.S. spy agencies began last fall collecting "disturbing and detailed" intelligence on a plan by Putin for a "major new invasion" of Ukraine.

Burns said President Joe Biden dispatched him to Moscow in November "to convey directly to Putin and several of his closest advisers the depths of our concern about his planning for war, and the consequences for Russia" if they proceeded.

"I was troubled by what I heard," he continued, saying that while Putin may not have made a final decision, he appeared convinced his forces would "achieve a quick decisive victory at minimal costs."

Putin believed Washington's European allies were distracted by their own domestic politics and he had a "sanctions-proof" war chest of foreign currency reserves, Burns said.

"Putin was proven wrong on each of these counts," he said.

The Russian leader "stewed" in grievance, ambition and insecurity and apparently saw the "window was closing for shaping Ukraine's orientation" away from the West, said Burns, who called Putin an "apostle of payback."

U.S. intelligence has been vital to Ukraine's fight against Russian forces, said Burns, whose diplomatic posts included one as U.S. ambassador to Moscow.

The "crimes" he said those forces committed in the Ukrainian town of Bucha are "horrific."

Russia, which has repeatedly denied targeting civilians, has called the accusations its forces executed civilians in Bucha while occupying the town a "monstrous forgery" aimed at denigrating the Russian army.

The Kremlin says it launched a "special military operation" to demilitarize and "liberate" Ukraine from nationalist extremists.

In other remarks, Burns called China a formidable competitor seeking to overtake the United States in every domain, from economic and military power to space and cyberspace.

China’s ambitions under its leader Xi Jinping are “quite threatening,” and include the possibility that Beijing would seek control over Taiwan by military means, he said.

“The further out we get in this decade, the greater that risk becomes," he said.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
×