Putin says Russia does not need to use nuclear weapons for victory in Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday there was no need to use nuclear weapons to deliver victory for Moscow in Ukraine, the strongest signal yet from the Kremlin chief that there will not be a nuclear strike.

Putin, whose forces have been making advances in eastern Ukraine in recent months, said he did not see the conditions for the use of such weapons and requested that people stop discussing the nuclear topic.

However Putin, who leads the world's biggest nuclear power, said he did not rule out changes to Russia's nuclear doctrine, which sets out the conditions under which such weapons could be used.

He also said that if necessary Russia could test a nuclear weapon, though he saw no need to do so at the present time.

Putin's response came to a question from Sergei Karaganov, an influential Russian analyst, who asked if Putin should hold a "nuclear pistol to the temple" of the West over Ukraine.

"The use is possible in an exceptional case - in the event of a threat to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country. I don't think that such a case has come. There is no such need," Putin said at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum.

"But this doctrine is a living tool and we are carefully watching what is happening in the world around us and do not exclude making some changes to this doctrine. This is also related to the testing of nuclear weapons."



Reuters