Moscow, July 21 — Russia may be forced to invoke the threat of nuclear weapons in response to mounting pressure from Western nations, warned Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of state media outlets RT and Rossiya Segodnya.
Speaking on the popular state-run TV program Evening with Vladimir Solovyov, Simonyan said the mere prospect of a nuclear strike is something the West would find “utterly unacceptable.”
“I don’t believe it will come to actual nuclear war — they’re too soft for that,” she said. “But I do think we’ll be pushed to the point where we have to wield the threat itself.”
Simonyan added that if tensions continue to escalate, Russia could formally acknowledge a state of war with Western powers. “Throughout history, military confrontations have always existed,” she said, implying that a direct clash with NATO countries may become unavoidable.
Her remarks come amid heightened tensions between Russia and the U.S., following President Donald Trump’s announcement of a new NATO-mediated arms transfer plan to Ukraine. Trump also threatened to impose 100% tariffs on Russian goods unless a ceasefire is reached between Moscow and Kyiv within 50 days.
The Kremlin has repeatedly accused Western nations of fueling the conflict by supplying arms to Ukraine and imposing economic sanctions, which Moscow says increase the risk of uncontrolled escalation.
Simonyan’s statements reflect a growing narrative in Russian state media that positions nuclear deterrence not as a taboo, but as a strategic necessity — a messaging shift analysts view as both dangerous and calculated.
Critics warn that normalizing nuclear rhetoric could blur the lines of acceptable conflict resolution and erode global norms surrounding weapons of mass destruction.
