Biden warns Putin against using nuclear or chemical weapons

Bloomberg

President Joe Biden said Vladimir Putin would face a “consequential” US response if the Russian president used nuclear or chemical weapons in the war in Ukraine.
“Don’t. Don’t. Don’t,” Biden said in an excerpt from an interview with CBS’s “60 Minutes” when asked what he would say if Putin were considering using tactical nuclear weapons or chemical weapons in the almost seven-month-old conflict. “You will change the face of war unlike anything since World War II.”
Biden declined to specify the possible consequences, saying that “the extent of what they do” would determine the response.
“Of course, I’m not going to tell you. It’ll be consequential,” Biden said. “They’ll become more of a pariah in the world than they ever have been. And depending on the extent of what they do will determine what response would occur.”
Biden’s full CBS interview was to be broadcast on Sunday night. Various Russian officials have issued veiled threats of nuclear escalation over Ukraine, including Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who said in April there’s a “serious” risk of nuclear war. Days after invading Ukraine, Putin ordered his country’s nuclear forces on high alert for the first time since the end of the Cold War.
More recently, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu told a security conference in Moscow on August 16 that Russia had no plans to use tactical nuclear or chemical weapons in Ukraine.

Biden meets Griner,
Whelan families as Russia sits on swap offer
President Joe Biden had meetings at the White House with family members of two Americans who have been detained in Russia. The president first met with Elizabeth Whelan, sister of former US Marine Paul Whelan, then with Cherelle Griner, the wife of WNBA star Brittney Griner, and Griner’s agent Lindsay Colas, the White House said. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan joined Biden in both meetings.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in August that the US had made a “substantial” proposal to Russia to try to secure Griner and Whelan’s release. The Biden administration proposed swapping Griner, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, and Whelan for Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer known as the “merchant of death” who in 2012 was sentenced to 25 years in prison, and a second Russian also held in a US jail, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Friday that the Russians had not responded to that offer. “Sadly, we don’t have a result here to tell you about but the president felt it was important to continue the dialogue with the family members,” Kirby said.
“The primary goal of the meeting today is to be able to update the families and keep them completely apprised of where we are in the process,” he added. In a statement released late Friday, Cherelle Griner thanked Biden for the meeting and “for the administration’s efforts” toward her wife’s release.
Advocates, including civil and human rights leaders, have pressed the White House for more transparency on the status of negotiations, and for more urgency in securing a deal.
Griner, who plays the Phoenix Mercury and in Russia during the off-season, was arrested at a Moscow airport after customs officials said they found vape cartridges containing cannabis oil in her luggage.