Russia ready to use nuclear weapons if threatened – army chief

Russia ready to use nuclear weapons if threatened – army chief

14:01 | 19/ 01/ 2008

MOSCOW, January 19 (RIA Novosti) – Russia’s top military commander said
on Saturday that the country is prepared to use its nuclear weapons to
defend itself and allies in the event of a severe external threat.

The Chief of the Russian General Staff, Gen. Yury Baluyevsky, told a
science conference in Moscow: "We do not intend to attack anyone, but
consider it necessary that all our partners clearly understand, and
that no one has any doubts, that the Armed Forces will be used to
protect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Russia and its
allies, including preventative action, and including the use of nuclear
weapons."

Baluyevsky’s comments come amid growing tensions between Russia and
NATO over the alliance’s expansion into the former Eastern Bloc, the
United States’ plans to deploy missile defense elements in Poland and
the Czech Republic, and Moscow’s increasingly assertive military
stance.

Russia resumed strategic bomber patrol flights over the Pacific,
Atlantic, and Arctic oceans last August, and on December 12, 2007
imposed a unilateral moratorium on the Conventional Forces in Europe
Treaty, a key arms reduction pact.

Baluyevsky said that in order to protect Russia’s interests, military
force "can and must be used" when "all other means prove ineffective."

Programs to develop Russia’s military must be closely linked to
national fiscal planning, "taking into account the state’s economic
resources," he said.