According to media reports, in an interview with CNN, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, “We have a vision of national security and it is publicly known. You can know all the reasons for the use of nuclear weapons. If existence is endangered for the country then it can be used according to our concept.
He was speaking after being asked by interviewer Christian Amanpour if he had “certainty or confidence” that President Vladimir Putin would not use the nuclear option in the context of Ukraine.
A few days after Russian troops invaded Ukraine, Putin announced on February 28 that he had placed the country’s strategic nuclear forces on high alert, sounding a global alarm.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby called Moscow’s statement about the possible use of nuclear weapons “dangerous.”
He told reporters that a responsible nuclear power should not act like this.
“The Pentagon has not seen anything to suggest that we need to change our strategic resistance,” Kirby said.
“We take the best care of it every day,” he added.
Russia has the world’s largest stockpile of nuclear weapons and is facing criticism and pressure from world powers other than China over its attack on its former Soviet neighbor.
Western defense officials said after Putin’s February announcement that they had seen no sign of Russia’s nuclear forces, strategic bombers, missiles and submarines moving.
However, Russia has warned that the war could escalate if the United States and NATO allies supply fighter jets to Ukraine, which could lead to a direct confrontation with Russia’s nuclear-armed rivals in the West. May encounter
Earlier this month, Beatrice Fehne, head of the Global Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, warned that Putin was using nuclear weapons for blackmail to prevent the international community from interfering in the invasion of Ukraine.
Asked further about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Peskov said he had no intention of occupying his neighboring country and that his country was not attacking civilians.
He said that the main objective of the operation was to get rid of Ukraine’s military capability.
“That is why our army is targeting military targets and installations, not civilians, on Ukrainian soil,” he said.
Contrary to Russian claims, however, widely available images and video evidence confirm human rights groups’ allegations that Russia has targeted civilian populations.