Russia rejects accusations of threats to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine, says Trofimov

Moscow, SANA- Russia rejects accusations of threatening to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine, head of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Department for Nonproliferation and Arms Control Alexander Trofimov said on Tuesday.

“We would like to firmly reject absolutely ungrounded and unacceptable allegations of Russia allegedly threatening to use nuclear weapons, in particular in Ukraine, that have been voiced. We do not rule out that this is being done for intensifying anti-Russia hysteria,” Trofimov said at the Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons at the UN headquarters in New York.

He added “We do not rule out that this is being done for intensifying anti-Russia hysteria.”

Trofimov noted that “Russia’s doctrine lines on the issue are well known and pretty clear: we hypothetically admit using nuclear response solely to respond to aggression with the use of mass destruction weapons or to respond to aggression using conventional arms if the existence of the state itself is threatened.”

Manar Salameh/ Ruaa al-Jazaeri