Is Russia withdrawing its threat to use nuclear weapons? According to Putin’s spokesman, the Kremlin will only launch them if the nation’s survival is threatened.

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23rd Mar, 2022. 02:49 am
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Is Russia withdrawing its threat to use nuclear weapons? According to Putin’s spokesman, the Kremlin will only launch them if the nation’s survival is threatened.
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Russia would use nuclear weapons only if its very existence was threatened, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov today.

The remark came nearly four weeks after Russia sent troops into Ukraine, amid Western fears that the conflict could escalate into a full-fledged nuclear war.

‘We have a concept of domestic security, and it’s public. You can read all the reasons for nuclear arms to be used,’ Peskov said. ‘So if it is an existential threat for our country, then it can be used in accordance with our concept.’

‘There are no other reasons mentioned in that text,’ he added, referring to the country’s security concept.

Peskov made the remark as CNN’s veteran broadcaster and interviewer Christiane Amanpour pressed him on whether he was “convinced or confident” that Putin would not use the nuclear option in the context of Ukraine.

Peskov, a long-time ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, did not elaborate on what Russia regards as an existential threat.

While western countries invading Russia is unthinkable, the Kremlin has demanded that NATO withdraw its forces from its eastern borders and that the possibility of Ukraine joining the group be ruled out.

Meanwhile, devastating Western sanctions have caused the value of the Ruble to plummet and have crippled Russia’s economy.

Putin ordered Russia’s nuclear forces to be placed on high alert last month, and he threatened NATO allies with “consequences greater than any you have faced in history” if they intervened in the Ukraine conflict.

According to the Interfax news agency, Russia’s defence ministry announced on February 28 that its nuclear missile forces, as well as its Northern and Pacific fleets, had been placed on enhanced combat duty in accordance with the order.

Experts warned at the time that Putin’s decision to put Russia’s nuclear deterrent on ‘alert’ amounted to a “direct threat of nuclear war.”

Dmitry Muratov, the editor of the Moscow-based newspaper Novaya Gazeta, said the move meant that “if Russia is not treated as he wants, then everything will be destroyed.”

On March 14, United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres stated, “The prospect of nuclear conflict, once unthinkable, is now within the realm of possibility.”

When asked about Peskov’s remarks and Russia’s nuclear posture in general, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby described Moscow’s rhetoric on the potential use of nuclear weapons as “dangerous.”

‘It is not the behaviour of a responsible nuclear power,’ he told reporters.

However, Kirby emphasised that Pentagon officials ‘haven’t seen anything that leads us to conclude that we need to change our strategic deterrent posture.’

‘Every day, we monitor this as best we can,’ he added.

Russia has the world’s largest stockpile of nuclear warheads and has received little international support for its attack on its former Soviet neighbour.

Following Putin’s February announcement, Western defence officials stated that they had seen no significant signs of Russia’s nuclear forces – strategic bombers, missiles, and submarines – being mobilised.

However, Moscow has warned that supplying Ukraine with fighter jets by the US and NATO allies could escalate and expand the war, potentially putting Russia in direct conflict with nuclear-armed adversaries in the West.

Is Russia withdrawing its threat to use nuclear weapons? According to Putin’s spokesman, the Kremlin will only launch them if the nation’s survival is threatened.

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