U.S. Central Intelligence Agency Director William Burns said on Saturday that Russian President Vladimir Putin believes doubling down on the military conflict in Ukraine will improve his outcome of the war.
"He's in a frame of mind in which he doesn't believe he can afford to lose," said Burns, who was speaking at a Financial Times event in Washington. "I think he's convinced right now that doubling down still will enable him to make progress."
Burns said that there is no practical evidence indicating that Russia plans to use tactical nuclear weapons, adding that Putin has staked a lot on the second phase of the "brutal" offensive in Ukraine.
"We don't see, as an intelligence community, practical evidence at this point of Russian planning for the deployment or even potential use of tactical nuclear weapons," Burns said.
"Given the kind of saber rattling that ... we've heard from the Russian leadership, we can't take lightly those possibilities," Burns told a conference hosted by the Financial Times.
"So we stay very sharply focused as an intelligence service ... on those possibilities at a moment when the stakes are very high for Russia," he said.
Russia placed nuclear forces on high alert shortly after Russian President Vladimir Putin sent troops to Ukraine on February 24. Putin has also made thinly veiled threats hinting at willingness to deploy Russia's tactical nuclear weapons.
The Kremlin chief has warned of a "lightning fast" retaliation if the West directly intervenes in the Ukraine conflict.
Observers say that in recent days, Russia's state television has attempted to make nuclear weapons use more palatable to the public.
China is closely studying Russian's invasion of Ukraine and is likely adjusting its long-term plans for gaining control of Taiwan based on the lessons from the war, Burns added.
"Clearly the Chinese leadership is trying to look carefully at what lessons they should draw from Ukraine about their own ambitions and Taiwan," Burns said.
They have not given up that goal, he said, but factors including the Western response to the invasion and its impact on the global economy are "affecting their calculation about how and when they go about doing that."
