Russia Says It Has No Need To Use Nuclear Weapons In Ukraine

Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register MOSCOW, Aug 16 (Reuters) – Russia has “no need” to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine, its defense minister said on Tuesday, describing media speculation that Moscow might deploy nuclear or chemical weapons in the conflict as “absolutely lies”. “From a military point of view, there is no need to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine to achieve the goals. The main purpose of Russian nuclear weapons is to prevent a nuclear attack,” Sergei Shoigu said during a speech at an international security conference. in Moscow. “The media is spreading speculation about the alleged use of Russian tactical nuclear weapons during the special military operation or about the readiness to use chemical weapons. All these informational attacks are complete lies.” Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Shoigu also claimed that Ukrainian military operations were being planned by the United States and Britain and that NATO had increased its troop deployment in eastern and central Europe “several times”. Referring to the New START Treaty on US and Russian nuclear arms control, Shoigu said talks on extending the treaty were “two-way” and the situation around it was “difficult.” “A difficult situation is also developing in relation to the Treaty on the Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms. The agreement remains in force until 2026,” Shoigu added. “On the Russian side, the obligations are fulfilled, the declared levels of carriers and warheads are kept within the specified limits.” Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Report from Reuters. Editing by Alison Williams and Mark Potter Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.