Wanting To Prevent Confrontation But Is Also Ready To Use Emergency Scenarios, Russia: If Western Countries Test It, We Won't Back Down

Illustration of Russia's Topol intercontinental ballistic missile. (Wikimedia Commons/Vitaly V. Kuzmin)

JAKARTA - The conflict in Ukraine does not guarantee Russia's use of nuclear weapons, but Moscow may decide to use its nuclear arsenal in response to "direct aggression" by NATO countries regarding the invasion, Russia said Tuesday at the United Nations.

At the nuclear nonproliferation conference, Russian diplomat Alexander Trofimov rejected "absolutely unfounded, despite the unacceptable fact and speculation that Russia allegedly threatens to use nuclear weapons, particularly in Ukraine."

In the days following Russia's invasion on February 24, President Vladimir Putin put the country's deterrence force, which includes nuclear weapons, on high alert, citing what he called aggressive statements by NATO leaders and Western economic sanctions against Moscow.

Trofimov, a senior diplomat in the non-proliferation and arms control department of the Russian Foreign Ministry, said Moscow would only use nuclear weapons in response to weapons of mass destruction or conventional weapons attacks that threaten the very existence of the Russian state.

"Neither of these two hypothetical scenarios is relevant to the situation in Ukraine," Trofimov said at the UN conference to review the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

However, he accused NATO countries of carrying out a "fierce hybrid confrontation" against Russia that is now "dangerously balancing on the edge of an open military clash."

"Such a move would be able to trigger one of the two emergency scenarios described in our doctrine," Trofimov explained.

"We clearly stand to prevent this, but if Western countries try to test our resolve, Russia will not back down," he stressed.

Russia on Tuesday accused the United States of direct involvement in the Ukraine war.

Moscow said it was responding to comments by Ukrainian officials on how Kyiv was using the US-made High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) launchers supplied based on what the official said were excellent satellite imagery and real-time information.