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		</div><p>Russian President Vladimir Putin has described the country’s nuclear arsenals as a deterrent factor in the Ukrainian conflict but demurred when challenged to make a pledge that Moscow would not be the first to use them.</p>
<p>Asked by a member of the presidential Human Rights Council to commit Russia to rule out a first strike, he responded that such an obligation might prevent Russia from tapping its atomic arsenal even if came under a nuclear attack.</p>
<p>“If it doesn’t use it first under any circumstances, it means that it won’t be the second to use it either, because the possibility of using it in case of a nuclear strike on our territory will be sharply limited,” Mr Putin said.</p>
<p>He noted that Russia’s nuclear doctrine is based on the so-called “launch on warning” concept, which envisages the country employing nuclear weapons in the face of an imminent nuclear attack.</p>
<p>“It means that if we come under strike, we strike back in response,” he said.</p>
<p>Moscow’s nuclear doctrine says the country can use nuclear weapons if it comes under a nuclear strike or if it faces an attack with conventional weapons that threatens “the very existence” of the Russian state.</p>
<p>Mr Putin, who has repeatedly said during the fighting in Ukraine that Russia is ready to use “all available means” to protect its territory, rejected western criticism of nuclear sabre-rattling.</p>
<p>He pointed at former British prime minister Liz Truss’s statement about her readiness to use nuclear weapons, saying he felt obliged to respond to that.</p>
<p>“I had to emphasise certain things in response,” Mr Putin said. “Her comments went largely unnoticed, but they immediately emphasised our statements and used them to scare the world.”</p>
<p>The Russian leader further argued that Moscow’s nuclear weapons are a tool of deterrence amid the military operation in Ukraine, which is in its 10th month.</p>
<p>“We haven’t gone mad. We fully understand what nuclear weapons are,” Mr Putin said. “We have them, and they are more advanced and state-of-the-art than what any other nuclear power have.</p>
<p>“We aren’t going to brandish those weapons like a razor running around the world, but we naturally proceed from their existence.</p>
<p>“It’s a factor of deterrence, not a factor provoking an escalation of the conflict.”</p>
<p>The Russian leader characterised the tactical nuclear weapons the US deployed to Europe as a destabilising factor, saying Russia has not deployed any nuclear weapons outside its territory, but “we naturally will defend our allies with all available means, if necessary”.</p>
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