Sergey Ryabkov, deputy head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, in an interview with International Affairs magazine, said that Russia does not plan to use nuclear weapons due to the situation around Ukraine.
“Our enemies, our enemies are cynically speculating about this situation, trying to attribute to us the missing intentions to use nuclear weapons in connection with what is happening in Ukraine,” Ryabkov said.
According to him, there has been no change in the doctrinal approaches to this issue.
Ryabkov stressed that the use of nuclear weapons is possible if the existence of the state is threatened. Moreover, the formula contained in the military doctrine of Russia has a part that refers to aggression against the country with the use of conventional armed forces.
The day before, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev had said that Russia would be forced to carry out a pre-emptive strike in case Western countries transfer nuclear weapons to Ukraine.
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