Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) on Sunday said President Biden was “right to raise the risk of nuclear conflict” with Russia after the president last week warned of the Kremlin’s escalating threats as “armageddon.”
Biden’s remark came days after Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened the West with using tactical nuclear weapons as the country attempts to annex four Ukrainian territories, saying it is “not a bluff.”
“I think the president is right to raise the risk of nuclear conflict, because Vladimir Putin is increasingly getting pushed into a corner,” Murphy told CNN “State of the Union” co-anchor Jake Tapper.
“This war is going incredibly badly for him, the mobilization that he has undertaken has backfired,” Murphy, who serves on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said.
Putin’s annexation of the four territories, located in Ukraine’s east and south, came after Ukrainian forces saw success in a counteroffensive that reclaimed thousands of square miles of territory.
Putin responded by calling up 300,000 reservists to bolster Russia’s military operation while simultaneously making the nuclear threats.
Biden during a Democratic fundraiser on Thursday referenced Putin’s recent comments, saying “we have not faced the prospect of armageddon since Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis.”
Murphy on CNN said he agreed with Biden administration officials who have publicly stressed there are no signs that Russia is imminently moving to use its nuclear arsenal, but the Connecticut Democrat warned that Putin is a “dangerous man.”
“I think Joe Biden is right to just get this country ready for the fact that you are dealing with an incredibly dangerous human being in Russia,” Murphy said. “The war’s going badly, and you just can’t predict what he’s going to do next.”
Putin’s escalating rhetoric comes as he increasingly faces some resistance from within Russia following the country’s failures in Ukraine.
Thousands of Russian nationals attempted to flee the country on flights or through land borders after Putin’s partial mobilization announcement, including two who arrived on a boat in Alaska last week claiming asylum from being drafted.
Since the Kremlin’s annexation, Ukrainian forces have continued making gains in the territory Russia now lays claim to, causing further embarrassment for the Russian president as the war in Ukraine continues through its eighth month.
