This was stated by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan Mukhtar Tleuberdi in an article timed to the meeting in Vienna of the member states of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

The Minister justified the urgency of his initiative by the conflict in Ukraine.

"The current military conflict in Ukraine, talks on the return of nuclear weapons and mutual threats to the use of nuclear weapons make us think more than ever about the urgent need to ban and eliminate these deadly weapons," wrote Tleuberdi.

Both before and especially after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russian officials hinted at the possibility of using nuclear weapons or directly stated so.

Margarita Simanyan, editor-in-chief of Russia's state-owned RT, said in a direct statement that Vladimir Putin would give such an order if Russia lost the war.

Putin himself has warned Western nations of the catastrophic consequences of interfering in the conflict, and has ordered the transfer of nuclear deterrence forces to a private service.

At the same time, Russian officials called one of the reasons for the invasion plans to acquire nuclear weapons, which allegedly existed in Ukraine, Azattyk writes.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Kazakhstan was the owner of a nuclear arsenal for some time and, like Ukraine, voluntarily renounced it.

The treaty banning nuclear weapons was signed by 86 states, including Kazakhstan.

There are no nuclear states among the countries that have signed this agreement.

The first meeting of the member states will take place in Vienna next week.

The Kazakh Foreign Minister's article was published a day after Kazakh President Kasym-Zhamart Tokayev's participation in an economic forum in St. Petersburg amid growing Russian companies relocating some of their activities to Kazakhstan following new Western sanctions against Russia. full-scale war in Ukraine, unleashed by Russia.

Speaking at the forum, Russian President Vladimir Putin said his country did not threaten the West with nuclear weapons, but everyone should know "what Russia has to defend its sovereignty."

• In April, the Russian president said that if anyone "from the outside" intervened in the situation in Ukraine and created "unacceptable threats of a strategic nature" for Russia, Moscow would strike "lightning strikes."

  On February 27, three days after the invasion of Ukraine, the Russian president ordered to bring the country's nuclear forces into a "special regime on combat duty."

  There were no reports of revocation of this order.

• Late last month, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said that Russia's so-called "special operation" was aimed at "ensuring Ukraine's nuclear-free and neutral status."

  He, in particular, claimed that "there was a real threat of Ukraine's creation of nuclear weapons and means of delivery", but he did not provide any evidence.

• In February this year, Alexander Lukashenko threatened that in the event of threats from the West, Belarus could deploy nuclear weapons.

  "If necessary, if such senseless, unreasonable steps are taken by our opponents and rivals, we will deploy not only nuclear weapons, but also super-nuclear, promising, in order to protect their territory," said Alexander Lukashenko.

• According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), Russia has the world's largest nuclear arsenal of 5,977 warheads, about 550 more than the United States.

  These two countries account for more than 90 percent of all warheads in the world.

• U.S. intelligence has previously warned that Russia could turn to nuclear weapons if it feels its defeat in ground war is approaching and as a result of economic pressure from the West.

  It is a tactical strike on Ukraine in order to seize the initiative in the war.

  Russia has a large arsenal of tactical nuclear weapons and low-power nuclear weapons designed for use on the battlefield.

  According to experts, it has about 2,000 units.