COLORADO SPRINGS, USA. Oct 10 (Interfax-AVN) - Russia does not intend to be the first to deliver a nuclear strike, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov has said.
"Russia is not considering in any scenario or option the delivery of the first strike involving strategic nuclear weapons," he told a Thursday briefing in Colorado Springs.
"In theory we do not rule out the use of nuclear arms but only in case no other efforts succeed in averting a threat to the security of Russia, its citizens and allies," Ivanov said.
"We have nuclear forces. Russia will always have them and develop them but we regard them as a political deterrent," he said.
Responding to a question he noted that Russia supports Iran's accession to all IAEA documents. "We should send a respectful but clear signal to Iran that it is in Tehran's interests to join all IAEA documents, maybe the additional protocol as well. It would serve as a confirmation that Iran has no plans of developing weapons of mass destruction," he said.