Russian Parliamentarian: We Will Use Nuclear Weapons If The US Or NATO Enter Eastern Ukraine Or Crimea

Patrick Tucker, Defense One: Russian Lawmaker: We Would Use Nukes if US or NATO Enters Crimea

The Western alliance’s troop buildup in Eastern Europe has Moscow spooked.

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia — Russia would be forced to use nuclear weapons in any conflict in which U.S. or NATO forces entered eastern Ukraine, a member of Russia’s parliament told an international gathering of government security officials on Sunday.

“On the issue of NATO expansion on our borders, at some point I heard from the Russian military — and I think they are right — If U.S. forces, NATO forces, are, were, in the Crimea, in eastern Ukraine, Russia is undefendable militarily in case of conflict without using nuclear weapons in the early stage of the conflict,” Russian parliamentarian Vyacheslav Alekseyevich Nikonov told attendees at the GLOBSEC 2017 forum in Bratislava, Slovakia.

Russian military leaders have discussed Moscow’s willingness to use nuclear weapons in a conflict with military leaders in NATO, as part of broader and increasingly contentious conversations about the alliance’s expansion, Nikonov later told Defense One.

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WNU editor: For those who may not know .... Russian parliamentarian Vyacheslav Nikonov (the Russian lawmaker who is quoted in this post) is the grandson of Vyacheslav Molotov, the former Soviet foreign minister under Stalin. Over the years he has served on the staff of Mikhail Gorbachev, Boris Yeltsin and Vladimir Putin .... and he is regarded to be one the "wise men" in the Russian government. I have met him also once .... and it was in a forum where I was giving the presentation on the need for Russia to reform its judicial system. He begins to participate at the 14:00 mark of the above video .... and he provides (IMHO) a good explanation on what is the current  Russian position on East-West tensions.