Lloyd Austin DOWNPLAYS threat of Putin using nuclear weapons

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin dismissed Russian President Vladimir Putin's nuclear threats as 'saber rattling' but condemned the autocrat for continuing to upend the global order in a Sunday morning interview.

'There are no checks on Mr. Putin. Just as he made the irresponsible decision to invade Ukraine, you know, he could make another decision,' Austin told Fareed Zakaria GPS.

'But I don't see anything right now that would lead me to believe that he has made such a decision.'

The Pentagon chief also downplayed another foreign threat on the horizon when he told CNN that an 'imminent invasion' of Taiwan by China is unlikely.

The interview comes more than seven months after Putin launched his bloody invasion of Ukraine, and just days after he signed a decree to illegally annex parts of the former Soviet state.

Videos appeared to show Russian troops forcing Ukrainian civilians to the ballot box at gunpoint to vote on whether to join Moscow's jurisdiction.

'As you’ve heard us say, this referendum is a sham. It’s fiction. And we will never respect their illegal annexation of Ukraine territory, and nor will most of the international community,' Austin said on Sunday.

While signing the decree Putin also condemned the 'Satanic' West and vowed to use all of the Kremlin's might to protect Russia's new territory - in what was widely seen as a nuclear threat.

'This nuclear saber rattling is not the kind of thing that we would expect to hear from leaders of large countries with capability,' the Pentagon chief said.... (Read more)

Tweets mentioned:

https://twitter.com/FareedZakaria/status/1576229197436944386

Latest News