Nuclear weapons are not off limits, said a leading voice from the Kremlin as Russia continues to wage its war in Ukraine.
Dmitry Peskov, the chief spokesman of Russian President Vladimir Putin, said Tuesday that an “existential threat” to Russia is what would make it consider the most extreme form of escalation.
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When pressed to explain under what conditions Russia would use its nuclear capability, as CNN reported, he replied, “If it is an existential threat for our country, then it can be.”
Putin already placed his nuclear deterrent forces on a higher alert status last month. He said at the time that these forces will undergo a “special regime of combat duty” and that the decision was driven by economic sanctions and “aggressive statements” made by NATO countries.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview with German newspaper Die Zeit on March 10 that he thinks “the threat of nuclear war is a bluff” and that the use of nuclear weapons means “the end for all sides, not just for the person using them.”
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In his interview with CNN, Peskov claimed Russia’s so-called special military operation in Ukraine was “going on strictly in accordance with the plans and the purposes that were established beforehand.”
However, his statement contradicts Western intelligence assessing that four weeks into the invasion, Russia’s progress has been slower than it expected in the face of strong Ukrainian resistance. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said Saturday that Russia’s military has not performed up to expectations and that its forces have “struggled with logistics.”
