Russian Diplomat: We Have the Right to Strike With Nuclear Weapons if NATO Provokes or Attacks Russia

Russia has the right to press its nuclear attack button and strike with nuclear weapons if provoked by NATO, stated Russia's Deputy Ambassador to the UN Dmitry Polansky.

In recent days, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has sparked public outcry about Russia using nuclear weapons if faced with an "existential threat." British television Sky News therefore asked Polansky whether he considered it right that Vladimir Putin was threatening the rest of the world with a nuclear catastrophe.

"If NATO provokes Russia or if NATO attacks Russia, then why not. We are a nuclear superpower," stated the deputy. "I do not think it is the right thing to do, but the right thing to do is to not threaten Russia or try to intervene in the conflict. 'Dealing with' a nuclear superpower, of course you have to consider the potential consequences of your actions," he said.

Polansky denied that the Russian army was committing war crimes in Ukraine. He called such allegations fabricated, saying that the Western world was drawing conclusions from battlefield videos. "You believe one thing, I believe another thing," he explained for Sky News.