Russia to rely on national military doctrine in matters of using nuclear weapons - Lavrov

MOSCOW. March 3 (Interfax) - Russia will rely on the national military doctrine in the matters of using nuclear weapons; there has been talk of a nuclear war but such statements are being made in the West, not in Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

"We have a military doctrine that specifies the parameters and conditions of using nuclear weapons. It says nothing about escalation for the sake of de-escalation in spite of what Western analysts are trying to accuse us of," Lavrov said in an interview with Russian and Western media outlets on Thursday.

"Still, there has been talk of a nuclear war. Please take a close look at the statements and their authors. First, it was Mr. Stoltenberg... Then Mr. Zelensky said he would renounce the status of a non-nuclear state," Lavrov said.