Senior Russian officials say Moscow has the right to use nuclear weapons if attacked from the west.
Moscow (Reuters) – Russia reserves the right to use nuclear weapons, Moscow's top security official Sergei Shoigu said in an interview on Thursday.
Shougu's comments came as U.S. President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance warned that if a deal is not made soon, Washington could go from trying to negotiate a peaceful solution in Ukraine.
Since taking office in January, Trump has raised U.S. policies on the three-year war and urged Ukraine to agree to a ceasefire when pressure from Russia is eased.
Shoigu served as Russian Defense Minister for more than a decade until he appointed his powerful Security Council in a government reorganization last year and approved Moscow's nuclear doctrine by President Vladimir Putin last November.
Under the new term, Russia could consider a nuclear strike in response to conventional attacks on Russia or its ally Belarus, which “poses a critical threat to their sovereignty and/or its territorial integrity.”
Shogu said: “…If foreign countries take unfriendly actions, which pose a threat to the sovereignty and territory of the Russian Federation, our country believes that it is legal to take symmetric and asymmetric measures to curb such actions and prevent their recurrence.”
(Reuters report; writing by Lucy Papachristou; edited by Mark Trevelyan and Bernadette Baum)
