Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that his country does not threaten anyone and will only resort to nuclear weapons “if necessary” to defend its sovereignty.

“We are not a threat, but everyone should know what we have and what we will use if necessary to defend our sovereignty,” Putin said at the International Economic Forum in St Petersburg.

Putin has called “irresponsible” statements by senior Western officials that Russia is threatening the world with atomic weapons.

“We hear these kinds of rhetoric. Shall we remain silent? We respond properly. As soon as we respond, they stick to it and say, ‘Russia is a threat’.

He assured that in a possible military conflict with the West, Western countries had already declared a “wide-scale war” in countries such as Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan and Yugoslavia.

Before the start of the current Russian military campaign in Ukraine, Russia accused Kiev of trying to restore its nuclear potential, which it gave up after the collapse of the Soviet Union in exchange for security guarantees.

In addition, Moscow warned of a possible nuclear weapons deployment in Finland and Sweden when both countries eventually and officially joined the military alliance.