Russia assures that eventually it will not use nuclear weapons in Ukraine. The Russian foreign minister gave the guarantee this Tuesday in an interview with the television channel “India Today”. “Only conventional weapons” are used by Russian troops, Sergei Lavrov said after being asked about the possible use of a nuclear arsenal against Ukraine.
However, as Russia’s foreign minister, Lavrov is not directly responsible for the military decisions in the Ukraine war, one of the reasons why Sergei Lavrov’s statement has met with some skepticism in the West.
The nuclear threat was raised several times by Russia at different times of the war. Early on, Vladimir Putin warned that anyone opposing his actions would see weapons never seen before, and Sergei Lavrov twice claimed that a third world war could only be “nuclear.” The threat put the West on high alert.
At the end of March, the possibility of a Russian use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine was raised again. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov admitted in an interview with CNN: “If there is an existential threat to our country, then they can be used.” The Pentagon responded to Peskov’s comments, which it considered “dangerous”. “This is not how a responsible nuclear power should act,” spokesman John Kirby condemned. Russia is the world power with the most nuclear warheads, ahead of the United States.
More recently, last week, Russia again threatened to deploy nuclear weapons, in this case not in Ukraine, but in the Baltic Sea if Sweden and Finland decide to join NATO. “It will be necessary to strengthen the concentration of ground forces and air defenses and deploy significant naval forces in the waters of the Gulf of Finland. And then we can no longer speak of a Baltic without nuclear weapons. The balance must be restored,” threatened Vice President of the Security Council and former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
Now Sergei Lavrov, who is also the head of Russian diplomacy, is ruling out a nuclear threat, at least in Ukraine. The question is whether the statements made by the Russian foreign minister can be trusted and whether the Kremlin will keep its promise. In January Lavrov said that Russia would not start a war in Ukraine, but on February 24 the “special military operation” began.
“Spooky. Usually they do what they deny. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov assures that Russia is not considering using nuclear weapons in Ukraine.”
The possible use of nuclear weapons was one of the greatest fears of the war in Ukraine. Western intelligence agencies are still warning about the possibility that the Kremlin could resort to tactical nuclear weapons or some other arsenal with more limited capabilities if Ukrainian forces continue to hold out in the east and south of the country, Bloomberg notes.
In an interview with India Today, Lavrov also said that the Russian “special military operation” has now entered a new phase with the battle in Donbass which will continue. “As announced from the start, the operation in eastern Ukraine is aimed at the complete liberation of the selfproclaimed republics of Donetsk and Luhansk. And this operation will continue,” he warned, adding that “it will be a very important moment for the entire special military operation” of Russia.