Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told CNN International on Tuesday that Russia would only use nuclear weapons in the Ukraine conflict if it faced an “existential threat”. According to Agence France-Presse and Archyde.com, Peskov said that Russia’s security policy stipulates that it will only resort to nuclear weapons if Russia faces an existential threat.
Veteran war correspondent Christiane Amanpour asked him if he was “convinced or confident” that Russian President Vladimir Putin would not use the nuclear option in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Peskov made the remarks.
The Russian army invaded Ukraine on February 24, and Putin announced on the 28th that the Russian nuclear force was on high alert, arousing global attention, and Western countries worry that the conflict between Russia and Ukraine may escalate into a nuclear war.
U.S. Defense Department spokesman John Kirby said Moscow’s comments regarding the potential use of nuclear weapons were “dangerous.” “This is not what a responsible nuclear-armed state should do,” he told reporters.
Having said that, Kirby stressed that Pentagon officials “have not seen anything that would lead us to conclude that we must change the strategic deterrent posture.”
Western defense officials said they had seen no clear signs of Russia mobilizing nuclear weapons, including strategic bombers, missiles and submarines, following Putin put nuclear forces on high alert in late February.
But Moscow also warned that if the United States and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) supply Ukraine with fighter jets, it might lead to further escalation and expansion of the war, putting Russia directly at the hands of Western nuclear-armed states.
When the reporter further asked regarding Russia’s aggression once morest Ukraine, Peskov said that Russia has no intention of occupying neighboring countries, and also claimed that Russia did not attack civilians.
The main goal of this “special military operation”, he said, was “to clear Ukraine’s military potential”, “that’s why our troops only target military targets and objects in Ukraine, not civilian ones”.
Still, there is plenty of photographic and video evidence to support allegations by human rights groups that Russian forces have attacked many civilian targets in Ukraine.
(Editor-in-Chief: Zhuang Yanyu)
