Washington considers the Kremlin's threats to be frivolous.
According to Reuters, US intelligence is convinced that there is no real risk of Russia using nuclear weapons, despite the threats that have intensified since the decision to grant Ukraine the right to strike deep into enemy territory with Western weapons.
Five sources familiar with the findings of US intelligence agencies claim that the Kremlin, instead of pressing the “red button”, will continue its campaign to sabotage facilities in Europe.
It was the intelligence's confidence in the absence of a nuclear response that became one of the decisive factors in ending the debate in the Biden administration regarding permission to use ATACMS against military targets on Russian territory.
The assessment did not change even after the Russians used the Kedr missile (according to Putin's propaganda) “Oreshnik”), which was supposed to “be a warning to Washington and its European allies.”