- Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Tuesday refused to rule out the use of nuclear weapons.
- “If it’s an existential threat to our country, then it can be used,” he said.
- Russia’s policy allows nuclear weapons to be used in response to conventional warfare.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin would only use nuclear weapons if he felt his country’s existence was threatened, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told CNN on Tuesday.
In an interview with Christiane Amanpour, Peskov said Putin’s threat to use nuclear weapons was intended to send a message.
“President Putin wants the world to hear and understand our concerns,” he said. “We tried for a couple of decades to take our concerns out into the world — to Europe, to the United States — but no one would listen to us.”
Days after Russia’s February 24 invasion of Ukraine, Putin ordered his country’s nuclear forces to be placed on high alert. He also said that any country interfering in his attack “should know that Russia’s response will be immediate and will lead you to consequences unlike any you have seen in your history.”
—Christiane Amanpour (@amanpour) March 22, 2022
Speaking to CNN, Peskov refused to rule out the use of nuclear weapons.
“We have a concept of internal security and it is public. You can read all the reasons for using nuclear weapons,” he said. “If it’s an existential threat to our country, then it can be deployed.”
According to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, a 2020 statement on Russia’s nuclear policy signed by Putin said the country would use nuclear weapons in two scenarios: in response to the use of nuclear weapons or other unconventional weapons against Moscow or its allies, or as a Reaction to “aggression” with conventional weapons “when the existence of the state is threatened”.
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