Russia will utilize its nuclear arsenal only if faced with an existential threat, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said, warning that continuous talk about such weapons lowers the threshold for actually using them.
The president made the remarks during the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) in response to a question about his stance on using tactical, low-yield nuclear weapons as a deterrent. Putin said his attitude about the idea of using such weapons was “negative” and pointed to Moscow’s nuclear doctrine.
“Nuclear weapons are created to ensure our security in its most broad sense and the very existence of the Russian state. But we, firstly, do not have such a need, and secondly, the very fact of discussing this topic already lowers the threshold for the use of [nuclear] weaponry,” he said.
At the same time, Putin said Moscow will not engage in any nuclear disarmament talks with the collective West, given that reducing the country’s arsenal would put it at a disadvantage.
“We possess more weaponry of such sort than the NATO countries. They know that and are all the time trying to persuade us to start negotiations on reduction. Nuts to them, you know, as our people say,” the president said.
Putin also touched upon the deployment of Russian tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, stating that the process has already started and is set to be completed by the end of the year.
The ongoing conflict between Moscow and Kiev, perceived by Russia as a broader proxy-war with the US-led collective West, has rekindled fears of an all-out nuclear war.
While Western officials have repeatedly accused Russia of “reckless” nuclear rhetoric, Moscow insists its nuclear posture has not changed and the arsenal may be used only under “extraordinary circumstances” threatening the country’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and very existence.
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