According to the Kremlin, Russia would only use nuclear weapons in connection with the Ukraine conflict in the event of an “existential threat”.
"We have a concept for internal security that is public and can be looked up," said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Tuesday on the American television channel CNN International.
"If there is an existential threat to our country, then it (the atomic bomb) can be used in accordance with our concept," Peskow said.
The Kremlin spokesman was responding to a question repeatedly asked by CNN journalist Christiane Amanpour whether he was "convinced or confident" that Russian President Vladimir Putin would not use a nuclear bomb in the conflict with Ukraine.
The context in which Peskov made this statement was revealing: the Kremlin spokesman had previously insinuated that Ukraine was "unfortunately" in the process of developing nuclear weapons with which it could reach and attack all of Russia.
This was announced by Ukrainian President Zelenskyy "a few months ago" at the Munich Security Conference.
Peskov did not respond to the journalist's comment that she had been in Munich and that Zelenskyi had merely pointed out that Ukraine had rendered itself defenseless when, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, it surrendered its nuclear weapons to Moscow on the back of Russian security guarantees.
In the interview, Peskov only wanted Putin's threat to use nuclear weapons against supporters of Ukraine in the West to be understood as an emphatic request for the West to understand Russian interests and fears and to take them seriously.
"We've been trying to do this for decades, but no one listened to us," Peskow said.
The Pentagon said that, despite "dangerous" rhetoric from Moscow, the US armed forces had so far not observed anything that would necessitate an increased alert for nuclear weapons.
"Military operation proceeding strictly according to plan"
Contrary to statements also from the Pentagon about a stalling of the Russian advance, Peskov said that the military operation in Ukraine "is proceeding exactly as planned".
The Russian army wants to "eliminate the military potential of Ukraine", which is one of the "main goals of the operation".
"It's a significant mission with significant goals," he said.
At the same time, the Kremlin spokesman claimed that Moscow's troops in Ukraine "only target military targets and objects".
When asked what President Vladimir Putin has achieved in Ukraine so far, Peskov said that the goals have "not yet" been achieved.
Among the goals he named were the decimation of the Ukrainian military and Kiev's understanding that the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, annexed by Moscow in 2014, is now an "unmovable part of Russia".
In addition, Ukraine must recognize that the separatist regions in the east are now "independent states".
Asked about Putin's strategic intentions in the besieged city of Mariupol, Peskov said the goal there, too, was to eliminate nationalist forces that would not allow residents to flee the city.
"That's the problem, we now have many refugees from there who tell us that they were used as human shields and that many were killed by Ukrainian nationalists." Peskov apparently did not see a contradiction in these two statements.
When asked about reports of Russian shelling of escape corridors, stopped food deliveries and kidnapped civilians, Peskov said: "That's not true, that's fake.
We live in a severe information war, a war of fake news.
What is happening is not easy to understand.” The interviewer went on to ask why the residents then fled west instead of to Russia.
"Some go west, some go east, it's their choice and there are no obstacles," Peskov replied.
"Putin has so far achieved the opposite of his intentions"
The American government and Ukraine, on the other hand, have been saying for days that the Russian armed forces are having logistical problems and are making little progress, especially in the north and east of the country.
"We continue to see evidence that the Russians did not plan logistics and supplies properly," US Defense Department spokesman John Kirby said on Tuesday.
"We know that, to the best of their ability, they continue to have problems with gasoline and that they still have difficulties with food," he said.
The Russians are "increasingly frustrated by the lack of progress".
Earlier, President Joe Biden's National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan, said Putin had not been able to achieve any of his fundamental goals with the war against Ukraine.
"First, Ukraine should be subjugated, second, Russian power and prestige should be strengthened, and third, the West should be divided and weakened," Sullivan said.
Russia has “so far achieved the opposite”.
In the CNN interview, Peskov was also asked about the strong patriotism and perseverance of the Ukrainians, among other things, there are hardly any collaborators there, the journalist said.
Peskow replied that this was not true.
"There are Ukrainians who collaborate, there are Ukrainians who have understood that no one will be hurt if they recognize our goals."