Reacting to Putin’s press secretarys comments that Russia will not rule out using nuclear weapons against Ukraine in case of an “existential threat” to the country, he said: “In part because Putins plan A has failed, he hasnt been able to achieve control of Ukraine quickly.
“Hes now in a war, which hes not winning, the chances that in some circumstances, he might resort to nuclear threats, even to nuclear use, are increasing, its important not to be alarmist about this, I think its, the chances of nuclear use are still very small, but theyre not at zero.”
He added that Russia had stockpiled around 3000 nuclear weapons.
He said: “They could mobilise a large proportion of them very quickly.
“They have weapons capable of reaching the United States, the United Kingdom, around the world, but they also have shorter range nuclear weapons, some of which are not far from Ukraine.”
Listen to Malcom Chalmerss interview in full on Times Radio.
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