Russia on Tuesday said that it will use nuclear weapons should it face an existential threat. The statement was made in context of the current Ukrainian conflict.
“We have a concept of domestic security, and it's public. You can read all the reasons for nuclear arms to be used… So if it is an existential threat for our country, then it can be used in accordance with our concept,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told CNN.
The US has responded to these statements saying that Moscow is not behaving like a responsible nuclear power.
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“It's not the way a responsible nuclear power should act,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said on Tuesday.
However, on the basis of current Russian military posture vis-à-vis mobilization of strategic bombers, submarines and missiles, western defence officials have not seen any sign of nuclear aggression by Russia, as per an AFP report.
Meanwhile, Russia has said that Ukraine’s proposal to conduct a referendum on a peace deal will negatively impact the ongoing talks between the two parties.
Russia has also said that, as part of the ongoing peace deal, it wants Ukraine to officially recognise Crimea as part of the Russian Federation as well as recognise the independence of the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republic.
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Russia has justified this invasion as a process of demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine.
The two sides have been conducting peace talks in Belarus and have now shifted to video-conferencing.
It has been reported that Russia’s close ally Belarus might join Moscow in its invasion of Ukraine.
Belarusian combat units are ready to march into Ukraine, which includes thousands of forces which have been prepared to deploy, as per a CNN report.
Belarus had moved to change its constitution last month which allowed it to host Russian troops as well as nuclear weapons permanently, even though Russia has not taken any steps to transfer the weapons to Minsk, the report further says.
