Asked if Russia would rule out a pre-emptive tactical nuclear strike on Ukraine, Russia's deputy foreign minister said on Tuesday that a decision on the possible use of nuclear weapons was clearly set out in Russia's military doctrine, RIA reported.
"We have a military doctrine — everything is written there," Alexander Grushko was quoted by state news agency RIA as saying.
Russia's official military deployment principles allow for the use of nuclear weapons if they — or other types of weapons of mass destruction — are used against it, or if the Russian state faces an existential threat from conventional weapons.