Russia warns of preemptive strike if Ukraine receives nuclear weapons

Moscow, May 26 (Prensa Latina) The Russian Armed Forces will be forced to launch a preventive strike if the West provides nuclear weapons to Ukraine, the vice president of the National Security Council, Dmitri Medvedev, warned.

 Now that Kiev’s allies are considering supplying it with jet fighters they could just as well provide it with nuclear weapons, Medvedev said on Friday in a conversation with Sputnik news agency.

“But then that would mean they will see the arrival of a missile with a nuclear warhead. There are irreversible laws of war. If things come to the point of (providing) nuclear weapons (to Ukraine), we will have to launch a preemptive strike.” Medvedev said.

In accordance with its current military doctrine, Russia reserves the right to use its nuclear arsenal in response to an attack launched against it with weapons of mass destruction, or in the event of aggression with conventional weapons if it poses an existential threat.

Medvedev also expressed surprise at Europe’s role in the Ukraine conflict, because while the United States acts in line with its pragmatic interests in general, and is profiteering without getting into the fight and trying to destroy a secular enemy, something surprising is happening with Europe.

“They do not stop heating up the situation with their decisions,” the politician said.