As fears rise that Russian President Vladimir Putin might resort to using nuclear weapons in Ukraine War, United States’ Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke of India and China’s role in mitigating the disaster.
“Putin might react more, even more irrationally, and there was language coming out of Moscow that suggested that he would look to the use of tactical nuclear weapons. So that was a concern,” Blinken said in an interview.
Ahead of a visit to India, next week, Blinken said his government and the Asian powers engaging with Putin directly helped deter the Russians.
“But what we did in that case was to not only message him very directly — I was engaged with my counterpart, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov; others were engaged with their theirs — but we urged, and I think successfully, other countries that might have a little bit more influence with Russia these days, like China, but also other countries like India, to engage him directly about their absolute opposition to any use of nuclear weapons,” he added.