Putin is ready to use nuclear weapons if Russia's sovereignty is threatened

 Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Moscow is ready to use nuclear weapons if its sovereignty or independence is threatened.

Asked in an interview with journalist Dmitry Kiselev released early Wednesday if he has ever considered using battlefield nuclear weapons in Ukraine, Putin responded that there has been no need for that. 

Putin said that in line with the country’s security doctrine, Moscow is ready to use nuclear weapons in case of a threat to “the existence of the Russian state, our sovereignty and independence.”

“All that is written in our strategy, we haven’t changed it,” he said.