Envoy says U.S. won't succumb to Russia's "nuclear blackmail"

PanARMENIAN.Net - The Russian war on Ukraine has "driven US-Russia relations into the depths," US Ambassador to Russia John Sullivan told CNN on Thursday, April 28.

Sullivan said there is "very little engagement with the Russian government," and his communications have focused on the detained US citizens and "the functioning of our embassy," which is under sharp restrictions imposed by the Russian government.

On the Russian war in Ukraine, Sullivan suggested it is up to one man — Russian President Vladimir Putin — to bring the brutal conflict to an end.

"This war started with a decision by President Putin; this war will end with a decision by President," he said, adding that the United States is "going to do all we can to make sure that that decision is is a strategic defeat for him and his government, and not a victory for him in Ukraine," the ambassador added.

The US ambassador said the rhetoric about Russia potentially using nuclear weapons has escalated in "a dramatically irresponsible way recently," but noted it "isn't new." He recalled that in past conversations with the Russian government related to issues that were in the past related to Ukraine, the discussion would begin normally and then would "spiral" to warnings about nuclear confrontation if the US and NATO continued to support Ukraine.

"And my reaction on the other side of the table is astonishment," Sullivan said. "And unfortunately, what we've seen most recently, is at the most senior levels of the US government, an escalation of that rhetoric."

Sullivan said the US has ratcheted down in response, noting that US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin had paused and then canceled a missile test despite pre-planning and notifying the Russian government.

"We do not engage in irresponsible rhetoric with respect to nuclear weapons," he told CNN.

The US is "prepared to deter nuclear aggression against the United States," Sullivan added.

"We won't succumb to nuclear blackmail, but we won't tolerate nuclear saber rattling and nuclear brinksmanship," he said.