Russia on Tuesday told the UN that they could end up using nuclear weapons in response to “direct aggression” by western countries.
Speaking at the month-long nuclear non-proliferation conference, Russian diplomat Alexander Trofimov said speculation that Russia has threatened to use its nuclear arsenal against
Ukraine is “utterly unfounded, detached from reality and unacceptable”.
The envoy said Russia would only use nuclear weapons “in response to weapons of mass destruction or a conventional weapons attack that threatened the existence of the Russian state”.
“None of these two hypothetical scenarios is relevant to the situation in Ukraine,” he said, but blamed
Nato countries of a “fierce hybrid confrontation” against Russia that now “dangerously balances on the edge of an open military clash”.
“Such a move would be able to trigger one of the two emergency scenarios described in our doctrine,” Mr Trofimov added. “We obviously stand for preventing this, but if western countries try to test our resolve, Russia will not back down.”