Biden aide, Russian officials held de-escalation talks amid nuclear tensions: WSJ

White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan has reportedly held secret talks with top Russian officials in a bid to reduce the risk of escalating the Ukraine war into a nuclear conflict.

Citing unnamed US and allied officials, The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday that the top aide to US President Joe Biden on national security affairs held confidential discussions in recent months with Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov and Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev that were not publicly disclosed.

The conservative newspaper, however, added that its sources did not disclose information about the dates of the talks or the number of calls.

The White House refused to comment on the report, reacting to inquiries about the talks only with a statement -- attributed to National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson -- that "people claim a lot of things."

The development comes days after Sullivan visited the Ukrainian capital Kiev and pledged Washington's "unwavering and unflinching" support for the embattled Ukrainian government.

The US has so far committed nearly $20 billion in military assistance to Kiev since January 2021, including rocket and air defense systems intended to help counter Russia’s superior military might. 

This is while the sales of US weaponry and other military hardware to Europe are skyrocketing as a result of the Ukraine conflict, with European countries vowing to expand their supplies by $230 billion, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said last week.

US weapons sales in Europe booming amid raging Ukraine war

US weapons sales in Europe are booming amid raging Ukraine war, says a Stockholm-based research institute.

Since the Ukraine war began in late February, countries in the European Union have pledged to ramp up their arsenals by some $230 billion, with Germany alone planning to modernize its military to the tune of $100 billion this year, media reports said Saturday citing SIPRI.

The US arms industry, which produces and exports more weapons than any other country — selling over 39 percent of the estimated $210 billion annual global arms sales from 2017 to 2021 — has been the biggest beneficiary, the report noted.

Few high-level contacts between American and Russian authorities have been disclosed in recent months, with Washington – which has served as the top supplier of weapons to Kiev and has openly campaigned for escalating the war effort against Moscow -- insisting that any talks on ending the Ukraine conflict must be held between the two warring sides.

The reported secret contacts also come amid reports hinting at plans by the two warring sides to use nuclear weapons.

While the Ukrainian president urged his Western backers to initiate a “preventive” nuclear attack against Russia, Moscow has accused Kiev of planning to use a radioactive "dirty bomb" against territories held by Russia.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin reiterated earlier statements by Moscow officials last month that Ukraine intends to deploy a "dirty bomb" during Moscow's ongoing military operation in the ex-Soviet republic.

Putin: We're aware of Ukraine's 'dirty bomb' plans

Putin repeats Russia

"We are aware of Ukraine's plans to use a dirty bomb," Russia's Interfax news agency cited the head of state as telling a meeting of the intelligence chiefs of several former Soviet countries in Moscow.

Putin added that the risk of conflict in the world and the region was high and that security had to be heightened around key infrastructural sites.

Russian defense minister Sergei Shoigu told the Russian president that the exercises were practicing "delivering a massive nuclear strike by strategic offensive forces in response to an enemy nuclear strike."

Throughout recent weeks, Russian officials have repeatedly accused Ukraine of planning to use the bomb.

Dirty bombs, which are also known as Radiological Dispersal Devices (RDD), are not as potent as nuclear weapons, but can disperse radioactive materials across the targeted areas upon explosion.

Kiev, however, has denied having such a plan while the US and other Western nations have claimed that Moscow could be planning to launch such an attack itself as a pretext to escalate the conflict.

Russia in turn has accused the West of "encouraging provocations."

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