U.S. White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan declined to disclose the details of his conversations with Russia on nuclear risks or comment on what Washington could do if nukes were used.
"I think we have to be honest about this being a risk and a real risk and as [US] President [Joe] Biden himself said the risks of the use of nuclear weapons can set off a chain reaction that everybody can use their imagination to see where it leads," Sullivan said at an online event hosted by the Council on Foreign Relations with headquarters in New York on Monday. "So we have to be straightforward and direct about the risks," he added.
"But particular courses of action in response to that and creating the best strategic environment for deterrence [are needed] so that that eventuality never befalls us. We have a responsibility to do that too," he said.
Earlier, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing unnamed US and Western officials, that Sullivan had allegedly held a number of confidential discussions with Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov and Security Council Secretary Nikolay Patrushev in recent months on the inadmissibility of using nuclear weapons that could broaden the conflict in Ukraine.
