JAKARTA - United States President Joe Biden said on Monday the threat by Russian President Vladimir Putin to use tactical nuclear weapons was real, days after condemning Russia's deployment of such weapons in Belarus.
On Saturday, President Biden announced President Putin that Russia had deployed its first tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus "completely irresponsible".
"When I was here about two years ago, saying I was worried that the Colorado River would dry up, everyone looked at me like I was crazy," President Biden told a group of donors in California.
"They looked at me like when I said I was worried Putin was using a tactical nuclear weapon. It was real," President Biden continued.
Last week, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said his country had begun receiving shipments of Russian tactical nuclear weapons, some of which he said were three times more powerful than the atomic bombs that were dropped by the US in Hiroshima and Fashion in 1945.
The deployment is Russia's first step in such a warhead, a short-range and less powerful nuclear weapon that can be used on the battlefield, outside Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union.
Earlier, the United States said it had no intention of changing its stance on strategic nuclear weapons, in response to the deployment and had not seen any signs that Russia was preparing to use nuclear weapons.
In May, Russia dismissed President Biden's criticism of its plans to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, saying the US had deployed such nuclear weapons for decades in Europe.
It is known that Russia's deployment is closely monitored by the United States and its allies as well as by China, which has repeatedly warned against the use of nuclear weapons in war in Ukraine.
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