Ben Wallace noted that this statement "reveals the cards" of the French presidentLONDON, October 14.
/tass/. British Defense Minister Ben Wallace made a critical remark to French President Emmanuel Macron, who said that his country's military doctrine does not provide for the possibility of a nuclear response to the use of tactical nuclear weapons (NWS) in Ukraine. This was reported on Thursday evening on its website by The Daily Telegraph newspaper.
"This [statement] reveals the cards of President Macron," Wallace said in response to a request from journalists to comment on the words of the French leader.
A British source in NATO agreed with Wallace, saying that Macron's words undermine the "principles of deterrence." "We don't go into details of such scenarios," the source told the newspaper.
Macron was criticized in France itself. His predecessor in the presidency, Francois Hollande (2012-2017), recalled that the principle of nuclear deterrence is based on the fact that nuclear powers should not "say anything about what they could do" in a critical situation.
The statement of the President of France was made on October 12 on the air of the France 2 TV channel.
"France has a military doctrine, as I said, and it is based on the interests of the nation. They are clearly defined. And this is not something that would be under threat in the event of a ballistic nuclear attack in Ukraine or in the region," he said.
After that, he called for talking less about the nuclear threat and making more efforts for peace.
"I have always told the truth to the French. Russia has nuclear weapons, and so does France. In this area, our doctrine is quite clear. Deterrence works, but the less we talk about it, the more it will inspire confidence," Macron said. "We must help Ukraine resist, but it is necessary to avoid any escalation of the conflict. It is necessary that this war does not expand either geographically or vertically - that is, in terms of the use of weapons of mass destruction," he added.
The press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov previously noted that Western leaders practice nuclear rhetoric every day. He stressed that Russia does not want to take part in these exercises. The Kremlin representative recalled that Moscow can use nuclear weapons only in accordance with the provisions of the country's nuclear doctrine. Deputy Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation Alexander Venediktov also noted in an interview with TASS that officials of the Russian Federation, unlike some foreign politicians, have never made threats to use any weapons of mass destruction.
According to the Russian nuclear doctrine (Fundamentals of the state Policy of the Russian Federation in the field of Nuclear deterrence from 2020), the use of nuclear weapons by Russia is possible only if the enemy uses this or other types of weapons of mass destruction against the Russian Federation and its allies, reliable information about the launch of ballistic missiles to attack Russia and its allies, the enemy's impact on the objects necessary for retaliatory actions of nuclear forces, as well as in the case of aggression against the Russian Federation with the use of conventional weapons, when the very existence of the state is threatened.
