Could Russia use nuclear weapons? | Malcolm Chalmers

Speaking to Aasmah Mir and Stig Abell, RUSI's deputy director general Malcolm Chalmers said that Vladimir Putin "might resort to nuclear threats, even to nuclear use" although the chances are very small.

Reacting to Putin’s press secretary's comments that Russia will not rule out using nuclear weapons against Ukraine in case of an “existential threat” to the country, he said: "In part because Putin's plan A has failed, he hasn't been able to achieve control of Ukraine quickly.

"He's now in a war, which he's not winning, the chances that in some circumstances, he might resort to nuclear threats, even to nuclear use, are increasing, it's important not to be alarmist about this, I think it's, the chances of nuclear use are still very small, but they're not at zero."

He added that Russia had stockpiled around 3000 nuclear weapons.

He said: "They could mobilise a large proportion of them very quickly.

"They have weapons capable of reaching the United States, the United Kingdom, around the world, but they also have shorter range nuclear weapons, some of which are not far from Ukraine."

Listen to Malcom Chalmers's interview in full on Times Radio.

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