“We’re not crazy, we know what nuclear weapons are,” Putin said via video conference at his Human Rights Council, a body entirely under the Kremlin.
After several threats to use them from Russian authorities in recent months, he insisted that the weapons were “a means of self-defense” and that they were designed for a “retaliatory strike.”
In other words, “If we’re hit, we’ll hit back,” hammering the head of the Russian state.
Nevertheless, the “threat of nuclear war is growing”, given the Russian-Western conflict around Ukraine, blaming the situation on the Americans and Europeans.
“It’s completely irresponsible to talk lightly about nuclear weapons,” US State Department spokesman Ned Price commented hours later.
According to German Chancellor Olaf Scholes, the international community has “drawn a red line” for Russia and helped reduce the risk of Moscow resorting to nuclear weapons in Ukraine.
“One thing has changed for now: Russia has stopped threatening to use nuclear weapons,” the president said in an interview with German media group Funke and French regional daily Ouest-France to be published on Thursday.
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