Merely discussing the prospect lowers the threshold for actually using nuclear weapons, the Russian president warned
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…
