The UN secretary-general said that nuclear war is “back within the realm of possibility” following Russia’s warning earlier this year it was putting its nuclear forces on alert amid its war in Ukraine, which threatens to draw NATO into direct combat with Russia. Since then, nuclear threats have continued to raise concerns a nuclear weapon could be used in a conflict for the first time in decades.
Much of the focus as of late has been on the risk of Russian President Vladimir Putin using a nuclear weapon in Ukraine in a desperate move to change his army’s forturnes on the battlefield, but the Russian leader has also directed warnings at the US and NATO.
In December, Putin also suggested that Russia may abandon its “no first use” military doctrine, which says Russia would only use nuclear weapons as a last resort.
“They [the US] have it in their strategy, in the documents it is spelled out – a preventive blow,” Putin said at a news conference in Kyrgyzstan. “We don’t. We, on the other hand, have formulated a retaliatory strike in our strategy.”
Read more at: www.businessinsider.com