Putin Issues 'Clear Nuclear Threat' as Biden Diminishes US Deterrent

Russian President Vladimir Putin's decision on Sunday to place his nation's nuclear forces on high alert highlighted one of President Joe Biden's early errors in dealing with the Kremlin, as Biden's unconditional extension of the 2010 New START Treaty and his decision to openly stake out an anti-nuke position for the U.S. may have removed a powerful deterrent and emboldened Moscow.

The Feb. 3, 2021 deal struck by the Biden administration to give Putin an unconditional extension of the New START Treaty – without the Trump administration's demands for cuts to battlefield nuclear weapons and the curtailing of Russian nuclear modernization – was one of Biden's first acts as president.