(Bloomberg) -- France would not respond with nuclear weapons should Russia resort to deploying them tactically against Ukraine, President Emmanuel Macron said.

“Our doctrine rests on the fundamental interests of the nation. They are defined clearly and wouldn’t be directly affected at all if, for example, there was a ballistic nuclear attack in Ukraine, in the region,” Macron said during a live interview on public broadcaster France 2 late Wednesday. 

It’s the first time Macron has discussed France’s nuclear deterrence doctrine regarding Ukraine in detail. He added that it was not good to talk about it too much.

So far despite his threats there is no sense that Russian President Vladimir Putin is moving nuclear assets.

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