BERLIN

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg on Wednesday condemned Russian nuclear threats in the wake of remarks by former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev who warned the western military alliance that Moscow’s defeat in Ukraine could trigger a nuclear war.

“The risk of using nuclear weapons is low. But Russian nuclear rhetoric is utterly irresponsible. It is dangerous. Russia should know that a nuclear war can never be won and therefore should never be fought,” Stoltenberg said in an interview with the daily WELT newspaper.

“Of course, we are watching what Russia is doing very closely. If that were the case, we would of course react. But even if we allow Russia to blackmail us with this rhetoric, then the world will become more dangerous. Then Russia would keep coming up with this nuclear threat when it wants to achieve something,” he added.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine almost a year ago on Feb. 24, Medvedev has repeatedly raised the threat of a nuclear attack.

“The defeat of a nuclear power in a conventional war may trigger a nuclear war,” Medvedev, who serves as deputy chairman of Putin’s powerful security council, said in a post on the Telegram messaging app.

“Nuclear powers have never lost major conflicts on which their fate depends,” said Medvedev, who served as president from 2008 to 2012.

The Kremlin was quick to endorse Medvedev’s remarks, saying they were in full accordance with Moscow’s principles.

Moscow’s doctrine allows for a nuclear attack after “aggression against the Russian Federation with conventional weapons when the very existence of the state is threatened.”