INTERNATIONAL: Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said that Russia would consider the use of nuclear weapons only if faced with an "existential threat".

While asked whether Russia would rule out the possibility of using nuclear arms, the Russian Presidential Press Secretary Peskov has responded that the country has a "concept for national security" which states that when there is an existential threat posed against Russia, the country could adopt the nuclear option.

According to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, an NGO on science and global security, Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a statement in 2020 on the country's policy for the use of nuclear weapons, which specified two scenarios that Russia would resort to their use.

One stipulation is that Russia or its allies are faced with the use of nuclear weapons or other unconventional arms, while the other is when there is "aggression with conventional weapons" against Russia when its "very existence were threatened," it has said,

Also on Tuesday, U.S. National security advisor Jake Sullivan has said President Joe Biden will discuss the potential contingency with its allies on his trip to Europe in terms of the adoption of nuclear arms by Russia.

On February 27, Putin has ordered the country's deterrence forces to be placed on "a special mode of combat duty" in a meeting with top defense officials, noting it was in response to the "aggressive statements" made by senior officials of leading NATO members against Russia.

The strategic deterrence forces' task is to deter aggression, with the use of arms including nuclear weapons, against Russia.