Putin says 'no need' to use nuclear weapons for victory in Ukraine as US ramps up aid
India TV NewsSt Petersburg: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday asserted that Russia has no need to use nuclear weapons for a military victory in Ukraine, the strongest signal by the Kremlin that the ongoing conflict might not escalate into a nuclear war. Western countries were concerned after Putin repeatedly said that Russia would use nuclear weapons if necessary to defend itself, raising the threat of a nuclear conflict in the deadliest war in Europe since World War II. Asked at the plenary session of the St Petersburg International Economic Forum by moderator Sergei Karaganov, an influential Russian analyst, if Russia should hold a "nuclear pistol to the temple" of the West over Ukraine, Putin said he did not see the conditions for using such weapons. Russia's published 2020 nuclear doctrine sets out the conditions under which a Russian president would consider using a nuclear weapon: broadly as a response to an attack using nuclear or other weapons of mass destruction, or to the use of conventional weapons against Russia "when the very existence of the state is put under threat".