Ex-CIA chief's greatest concern in the Russia-Ukraine conflict is escalation 'spiraling out of control'

The top interest for erstwhile CIA main General David Petraeus (US Army, Ret.) concerning the warfare successful Ukraine is the imaginable for unbridled escalation that would effect successful catastrophic consequences, helium told CNBC Tuesday.

Asked what his apical interest was with respect to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, successful which the U.S. is heavy supporting Ukraine to the tune of billions of dollars successful subject aid, Petraeus replied, "just arsenic a wide category, it's conscionable [the hazard of it] spiraling retired of control."

"I deliberation it is morganatic for U.S. enactment and for enactment of different countries to debar starting World War III, arsenic the operation has been termed," the retired wide told CNBC's Hadley Gamble astatine the Warsaw Security Forum successful Poland.  

Leaders successful Ukraine and the West are grappling with Russian President Vladimir Putin's menace of utilizing atomic weapons. Uncertainty implicit the likelihood of specified enactment hangs implicit decision-making, adjacent arsenic Ukrainian forces signifier bold counter-offensives successful territory that Russia has illegally annexed. 

Western policymakers indispensable adequately awesome their moves and refrain from going excessively acold successful presumption of violative subject enactment against Russia, Petraeus said.  

"Remember, successful the beginning, determination were these calls for no-fly zones implicit Ukraine, which I thought was conscionable not afloat thought through," helium said, recounting the urging by Ukrainian officials during the war's aboriginal months to found the defence mechanics that would alteration U.S. planes to sprout down Russian jets successful Ukrainian airspace. 

"Because erstwhile you enactment U.S. craft into that airspace, and Russian craft … you can't alert our craft without taking down the aerial defenses that could sprout them down. And present you're into a U.S.-Russia war. And again, I think it's understandable that U.S. enactment and that of different countries should person concerns astir a spiraling beyond — arsenic horrific arsenic this is — a spiraling beyond wherever we are close present successful the warfare successful Ukraine."

Over the weekend, Ukrainian forces successfully recaptured the strategical municipality of Lyman successful Ukraine's eastbound Donetsk oblast, 1 of the 4 territories Putin announced arsenic belonging to the Russian Federation successful a code Friday. Counter-offensives successful the country's southbound are besides underway, amid reports of debased Russian unit morale and Ukrainian forces capturing Russian units. 

Still, battlefield occurrence does not mean that Russia can't retaliate successful different ways, Petraeus stressed.  

"Keep successful mind, the 1 constituent Russia inactive volition retain, adjacent arsenic it is losing connected the battlefield successful Ukraine, is the quality to punish Ukraine," helium said, describing the countless bombings and rocket strikes against large civilian centers. 

Russia "can proceed to transportation retired rocket and rocket and weaponry attacks, arsenic it has, astir petulantly. You saw erstwhile the antagonistic violative was succeeding extracurricular Kharkiv, they pounded definite areas, and they're not going aft subject targets," Petraeus said. "They're going aft the electrical procreation stations, the electrical transmission, different civilian infrastructure — astir again arsenic if to punish the radical for what their subject forces are doing, each large violations, by the way, of the Geneva Convention."

In effect to Putin's menace of utilizing each weapons astatine his disposal, the Biden medication replied that immoderate usage of atomic weapons would beryllium met with a "decisive" U.S. response. What precisely that effect would entail was not disclosed.   

"So again," the erstwhile CIA manager said, "it's truly astir the concern conscionable spiraling retired of power successful immoderate way. Which is wherefore it's truthful important that arsenic our nationalist information advisor successful the U.S., Jake Sullivan, has publically stated, it's precise important that we person communicated successful beforehand to the Russians, 'if you bash this, you tin expect thing on the lines of this' — noting that obviously, determination volition ever beryllium a scope of options presented to the president. And it depends specifically connected you know, what happened, each this, that would find what a effect would be."  

"But we don't privation to commencement getting into immoderate benignant of climbing the atomic ladder with Russia," helium stressed, "which could spiral retired of control."

Ultimately, Petraeus believes, Putin isn't suicidal. 

"I don't deliberation for each of the grievance-filled rhetoric that we heard the different time successful his speech, I don't deliberation that helium is suicidal," helium said. "I don't deliberation helium wants to bring astir the extremity of the Russian Federation arsenic helium knows it — I mean, the irony is that this is idiosyncratic who despised Gorbachev," helium said, referencing Mikhail Gorbachev, the past person of the Soviet Union, whom Putin and galore Russians blasted for its collapse. 

Putin has agelong decried the illness of the Soviet Union arsenic the astir catastrophic humanities lawsuit of the 20th century. 

But Putin, Petraeus argued, "is doing colossal harm to the Russian Federation connected a standard that Gorbachev did to the USSR, due to the fact that of this incredibly catastrophically atrocious determination to invade his neighbor."