TOKYO, August 4. /TASS/. Russia’s actions in Ukraine have nothing to do with scenarios of possible use of nuclear weapons and all allegations on this matter are mere speculations, Russian Ambassador to Japan Mikhail Galuzin said on Thursday.
"There are many allegations around Russia’s position, with speculations concerning possible use of nuclear weapons against Ukraine. But our doctrine on this matter is utterly clear: hypothetically, we don’t rule out nuclear response but only following an aggression with the use of weapons of mass destruction or with the use of conventional arms when the mere existence of the state is at stake. Our actions on the demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine have nothing to do with these scenarios," he said at a roundtable meeting on nuclear disarmament in Hiroshima.
He recalled that only one country - the United States - had actually used nuclear weapons and their use was not justified from the military point of view but "actually was a nuclear weapons test" in the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and their residents.
At the same time, he stressed that NATO’s "hostile expansion" and the creation of "an anti-Russian stronghold in Ukraine" crossed Russia’s red lines and "directly infringed upon Russia’s national security interests." "Having confronted Russia’s resolute rebuff to this expansion, the United States and its allies have plunged into a tough hybrid confrontation with our country, dangerously balancing on the edge of direct armed conflict," he noted.
According to the Russian diplomat, any armed confrontation between nuclear powers must be prevented, as "it is fraught with an escalation into a nuclear level." "This is what Russia warns against concerning potential consequences of NATO’s direct aggression against our country in the context of the Ukrainian crisis. Such a step may trigger one of two extraordinary scenarios described in our doctrine," he said, adding that Russia doesn’t want that. "But if Western countries opt to test our resoluteness, Russia will not retreat. This is not a language of threats, it is a logic of deterrence," he emphasized.