RUSSIA'S military chief of staff said yesterday that Moscow could use nuclear weapons in preventive strikes in case of a major threat.
These were the latest aggressive remarks from increasingly assertive authorities in Moscow.
General Yuri Baluyevsky said: "We have no plans to attack anyone, but we consider it necessary for all our partners in the world community to clearly under
stand… that to defend the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Russia and its allies, military forces will be used, including preventively, including the use of nuclear weapons."
The comments from the hawkish Baluyevsky did not appear to mark a policy shift for Russia, whose leaders have stressed the need to maintain a powerful nuclear deterrent and reserved the right to carry out preventive strikes to counter threats.
But in most of their public remarks about preventive strikes, President Vladimir Putin and other officials have not specifically mentioned the use of nuclear weapons.
Baluyevsky's remarks, which were made at a press conference, came at a time of increasingly strained relations between Moscow and the West.
The two sides are at odds over a range of issues and are embroiled in persistent disputes over US plans for missile defence facilities in former Soviet satellite states that have joined Nato, as well as alliance members' refusal to ratify an updated European conventional arms treaty.
The latest remarks appeared aimed at least in part at the United States, which Moscow accuses of endangering global security through aggressive actions such as the invasion of Iraq.
Putin, who has sought to boost his popularity at home and win support abroad with his vocal criticism of US foreign policy, has said that Russia opposes the use of preventive military attacks but reserves the right to carry them out because other countries do so.
Baluyevsky identified no specific nations or forces that threaten Russia.
But, according to the ITAR-Tass news agency, he said threats to global security include "the striving by a number of countries for hegemony on a regional and global level" – a clear reference to the United States – and terrorism.
Baluyevsky's remarks, made ahead of the March 2 presidential election, may also have been aimed in part at a domestic audience.
Putin is barred from seeking a third term but has clearly endorsed protege Dmitry Medvedev as his favoured successor.
