PoliticsJoe Biden Reveals How He Dissuaded Vladimir Putin and Russia From Launching 'Nukes'
Joe Biden convinced Vladimir Putin to avoid dropping nukes.
President Joe Biden told Lawrence O'Donnell he was able to dissuade Russian President Vladimir Putin from using "tactical nukes" during the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
In an exclusive interview on MSNBC’s The Last Word, the outgoing president gave what's being billed as his final sit-down before leaving office on Monday, January 20.
Joe Biden is about to end his four years as president.
"Tactical nuclear in Europe scares the h--- out of everybody, including the Russians," Biden told O'Donnell.
The president recounted conversations he had with Putin, where the foreign leader demanded the U.S. keep nuclear weapons out of Ukraine and block Ukraine's NATO membership.
"I said, '[Nuclear weapons are] not a problem. We've already taken the nuclear weapons out. There's none there. We're not gonna put them back in,'" Biden revealed.
Vladimir Putin led the Russian army to invade Ukraine.
The commander-in-chief did not provide the date of when the alleged conversation occurred.
During the interview, Biden also criticized Putin's ambitions, telling the MSNBC host: "All he wants to do is re-establish the Warsaw Pact. I can't let that happen. This guy is not a good guy."
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Joe Biden gave his final sit-down interview as president.
"We’re going to continue to help them grow if we can, but that — those two things aren’t going to happen, but you’re not going to go in and take them. You’re not going to go in and claim the area," Biden continued, beginning to ramble on. "And you remember, Lawrence, when I said they were going to go in, everybody said, oh, no, that’s not going to happen."
O'Donnell told the president, "I didn’t think it was going to happen. An expert I know who works in Ukraine told me it’s not going to happen. No one here in Ukraine thinks it’s going to happen because it seems so irrational for Putin to do that."
Biden continued to drive the conversation off the rails, bringing up his relationship with a former pope, "I — I found myself with the former pope who was much more conservative. And he wanted to see me after — after I spent some time in Poland because I had said — remember, John Rich — John Brennan guy."
"John and I went to Poland and I came back and said they’re going to — they’re going to leave the Warsaw Pact. They’re not going to be — a year from now, there’ll be no — they’re not going to be part of NATO," he continued. "He said, don’t write that. You’ll ruin your reputation. You’ll ruin your reputation, don’t write that. I was confident it was true. You could see when you talk to them what was going on, and the end result was that okay, what happened now is they pull out. All of a sudden, the whole dynamic changes in Europe, everything’s moving."
Joe Biden spoke with Vladimir Putin about the war in Ukraine.
In November, Putin approved an updated nuclear doctrine, which now allows Moscow to use nuclear arms against non-nuclear states. Russia later launched the intermediate-range ballistic missile "Oreshnik," designed for nuclear weapons.
A November survey by Russia's independent Levada Center revealed that 39% of Russians believe nuclear weapons use could be justified in the ongoing war against Ukraine.
