MOSCOW | Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke out on Monday against any nuclear conflict, at a time when the Kremlin’s military offensive in Ukraine has revived fears of an atomic drift.
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“We start from the principle that there can be no winners in a nuclear war and that the latter must never be triggered”, indicated Mr. Putin, in a message addressed to the participants of a conference of the 191 signatory countries of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT).
In this message published on the Kremlin website, he assured that Russia continued to follow “the letter and the spirit” of this treaty.
Russia announced that it had placed its nuclear forces on high alert shortly after its February 24 offensive in Ukraine. Mr. Putin spoke of reprisals “fast as lightning” in the event of direct intervention by the West in the conflict.
In the same vein, Russian state media and politicians have multiplied references and thinly veiled threats about the use of nuclear weapons in the conflict.
On Monday, the United States, United Kingdom and France called on Moscow “to stop its nuclear rhetoric and its irresponsible and dangerous attitude” since its large-scale assault on Ukraine.