Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov attends a session of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) in Saint Petersburg, Russia, June 4, 2021. REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina/File Photo
MARCH 22 – Russia’s security policy dictates that the country would only use nuclear weapons if its existence was threatened, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in an interview with CNN on Tuesday.
The comment, almost four weeks after Russia deployed its forces to Ukraine, came amid Western fears that the conflict there could escalate into a nuclear war.
Peskov made the statement in an English-language interview when asked if he was confident that President Vladimir Putin would not use nuclear weapons.
“We have a concept of internal security and it’s public, you can read all the reasons for using nuclear weapons. So if it is an existential threat to our country, then it (the nuclear arsenal) can be used according to our concept,” he said.
“There are no other reasons mentioned in this text,” he said in another reference to the country’s security policy.
Putin last month ordered Russia’s nuclear forces to be placed on high alert. In accordance with the order, Russia’s Defense Ministry said on February 28 that its nuclear missile forces and navies in the North and Pacific had been put on increased combat deployment, Interfax news agency reported.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on March 14: “The prospect of nuclear conflict, once unthinkable, is now again within the realm of possibility.”
Reporting by David Ljunggren and Mark Trevelyan; Editing by Howard Goller