There could be "no winners" in a nuclear war and it should "never be unleashed", <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/mena/iran/2022/07/20/russias-putin-presses-for-closer-ties-with-iran-during-visit-as-ukraine-war-intensifies/" target="_blank">Russian President Vladimir Putin</a> said on Monday. <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/europe/2022/07/20/putin-warns-eu-that-gas-supplies-could-be-cut-further/" target="_blank">Mr Putin</a> was speaking as a review of the keystone nuclear treaty opened at the <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/us-news/2022/08/01/biden-urges-russia-and-china-to-enter-nuclear-arms-control-talks/" target="_blank">UN</a>. He insisted that Russia remained faithful to the treaty's "letter and spirit" during an address to the Tenth Review Conference of the Parties to the<i> </i>Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons Ties between Russia and the West have been unravelling <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/uk-news/2022/07/21/ukraine-war-an-epic-fail-for-putin-says-head-of-mi6/" target="_blank">since Mr Putin sent troops to pro-western Ukraine</a> on February 24. On Monday, the US, Britain and France <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/2022/08/01/putin-says-united-states-is-main-threat-to-russia-as-he-launches-new-naval-plan/" target="_blank">rebuked Russia for "irresponsible and dangerous" talk about possibly using nuclear weapons</a>. Since the start of Moscow's military intervention in Ukraine, <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/2022/07/04/vladimir-putin-congratulates-troops-for-liberating-luhansk-and-tells-them-to-rest/" target="_blank">Mr Putin</a> has made thinly veiled threats hinting at a willingness to use <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/europe/2022/06/26/russia-president-vladimir-putin-promises-to-supply-belarus-with-nuclear-capable-missiles/" target="_blank">Russia's tactical nuclear weapons</a>, which Moscow's military doctrine holds can be used to force an adversary to retreat. Russian state propaganda has also argued for using nuclear weapons in the conflict. In May, <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/europe/2021/10/08/who-is-dmitry-muratov-nobel-winner-and-voice-of-russias-independent-media/" target="_blank">Russian editor and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Dmitry Muratov</a> warned that the Kremlin's "propaganda warriors" were striving to make the use of nuclear weapons more palatable to the Russian public.
