Nuclear Weapons Make World War 'Impossible,' Kremlin Spokesperson Says

Tensions between global superpowers have raised concerns about the possibility of situations escalating into another World War, but Russia doesn't see that happening because Russia and the United States are nuclear equals.

Russia achieved nuclear parity with the U.S. during the Cold War, something they didn't have during World War II. The leaders of the countries with the two biggest nuclear forces, Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Joe Biden have agreed that nuclear war must not be fought because it can't be won, but recent disagreements about a warship near Crimea sparked concerns about an armed conflict.

Dmitry Peskov, a Kremlin spokesman, told TASS, a Russian news agency, on Thursday that he didn't want to talk about war because it is "impossible." Helping to safeguard the world from conflict is the "nuclear parity," according to Peskov, which he classified as a mechanism that "stabilizes the entire system of international relations."

On Wednesday, Putin held his annual question and answer session with Russian citizens and was asked whether he thought the world was on the "brink" of a third World War. The Russian president rejected the idea, although he called the British warship near Crimea an obvious "provocation."

Russia accused the British warship of entering its territorial waters illegally and the Americans of being involved in a joint spying mission. London defended the ship's right to transit the waters and denied the claims made by Putin.

"Even if we had sunk that ship, it is nevertheless difficult to imagine that this would have put the world on the brink of a third World War because those who did this know they could not win a war like that. This is very important," Putin said.

However, had war broken out, Putin backed Russia's ability to defend itself and said at least the country would "know what we are fighting for," a cause he identified as "ourselves and our future."

Any war involving countries that have nuclear weapons heightens the potential for the situation to escalate and Putin endorsing Russia's nuclear policy raised concerns about the country's ability to launch a nuclear attack. Under the nuclear policy, which General of the Army Valery Gerasimov, the chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces called "purely defensive," Putin has the ability to use nuclear weapons in response to a conventional attack.

Putin could also deploy nuclear weapons if Russia has "reliable information" that missiles targeting its territory or its allies will be launched.