Russia could use nukes if Putin suspects ‘existential threat’: Kremlin spokesman
The Kremlin’s main mouthpiece has refused to rule out nuclear war — readily warning that President Vladimir Putin could use atomic weapons if he perceived an “existential threat.”
Dmitry Peskov was repeatedly pressed on CNN Tuesday about Russia’s nuclear arsenal being put on high alert, which interviewer Christiane Amanpour told him had left “the world afraid.”
“President Putin intends to make the world listen to and understand our concerns,” the Kremlin spokesman said when asked if Putin “would use” the nuclear option.
“We have a concept of domestic security and it’s public, you can read all the reasons for nuclear arms to be used,” he said when pressed again.
“So if it is an existential threat for our country, then [the nuclear arsenal] can be used in accordance with our concept,” he warned.
While Putin’s main spokesman did not specifically elaborate on what would be deemed an “existential threat,” he repeated unfounded claims that Ukraine was trying to build its own nuclear arsenal.
“We have been trying to convey our concerns to the world — to Europe, to the United States — for a couple of decades, but no one would listen to us,” the Kremlin spokesman complained.
“And before it is too late, it was a decision to start — to launch a special operation, military operation, to get rid of anti-Russia that was created next to our borders,” he said.
To Amanpour’s clear bafflement, Peskov insisted that modern Ukraine “was formed by the Western countries” just to be “anti-Russia.”
He also claimed the Kremlin had “very strong reason to believe and very strong evidence” that the US has “been developing biolabs programs” in Ukraine.
“This is reality that we’re facing,” he said.
Just days after his invasion last month, Putin ordered Russia’s nuclear forces to be put on “enhanced combat duty” over its unfounded claims of NATO threats.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres later said, “The prospect of nuclear conflict, once unthinkable, is now back within the realm of possibility.”
During his CNN interview Tuesday, Peskov dismissed rumors that the “special military operation” in Ukraine was suffering embarrassing setbacks and delays.
“It is going on strictly in accordance with the plans and with purposes that were established beforehand,” he said.
He also denied Russia had targeted civilians, despite overwhelming eyewitness evidence and Ukraine’s claim that at least 121 children were among the dead.
“We will hurt Nazis, not ordinary people and civil people. It is forbidden to target civil people for our military,” he insisted, dismissing reports to the contrary as “propaganda.”
