Russia hints at lowering threshold for using nuclear weapons

Russia is “constantly” analyzing the threshold for using nuclear weapons, according to a top foreign ministry official.

“At the moment, nothing has changed in this regard, but the situation itself is changing,” Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said Thursday, per a state media translation. “As a result, the way basic documents in this field relate to the needs of maintaining our security is constantly analyzed.”

Ryabkov acknowledged the possibility of lowering the bar for nuclear weapons usage just days after Russian defense officials announced a military drill involving those weapons. Russian President Vladimir Putin has used nuclear saber-rattling as a method to constrain Western assistance to Ukraine over the last two years.

“Russia will do utmost to avoid a global confrontation, but it will not allow itself

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