The nuclear weapons of France are for deterrence only and never intended for actual use, French Defence Minister Florence Parly said on Friday while commenting on Russian military operation in Ukraine.
On Thursday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said that Russian President Vladimir Putin should keep in mind that NATO possessed nuclear weapons.
France was one of the five countries formally considered to have nuclear status under the Non-Proliferation Treaty, on par with Russia, China, the United Kingdom and the United States.
“Nuclear weapon is a weapon of deterrence. It is not a weapon intended for use.
“We tried deterrence by various means, and we continue to do it since the dialogue with Putin, as we saw yesterday, was not stopped.
“The president of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron has made efforts again and called Putin to urge him to stop the military attack,’’ Parly told French radio broadcaster RTL.
On Thursday evening, Macron called Putin and urged him to immediately stop the military operation in Ukraine.
In the early hours of Thursday, Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine after the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk requested assistance to defend themselves from attacks by the Ukrainian troops.
The Russian Defence Ministry said the operation was targeting the military infrastructure of Ukraine and the civilian population was not in danger.
Moscow said it had no plans to occupy Ukraine. (Sputnik/NAN)
