Putin confirms Russia can use nuclear weapons

Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview for Vladimir Solovyov's film "World Order 2018" said that Moscow could use nuclear weapons only as a retaliatory strike.

"As for this particular topic, it is, of course, very important, extremely sensitive. I want to tell you, so that everyone here in the world knows, that our plans - I hope, it will never be - technical plans to apply nuclear weapons are about the so-called retaliatory, counter-impact strike," Putin said, RIA Novosti reports.

The Russian president said that the decision on the use of such weapons would be made only if the missile attack warning systems detected the launch of missiles and gave an accurate forecast for the flight trajectory and the time when warheads would fall on the territory of Russia.

"This is called a reciprocal, counter strike, when we have a legitimate right to respond," Putin said.

Earlier, the president promised an instant response should anyone use nuclear weapons against Russia and allies.

On March 1, Vladimir Putin presented second-to-none weapons during his speech before the Federal Assembly.

Pravda.Ru