Moscow, 30 January: Russia may use nuclear weapons if attacked by another nuclear power, Yevgeniy Primakov, president of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and former prime minister, has said.

"Russia's military doctrine, in conditions in which its armed forces are being reduced, is known to envisage the possibility of using nuclear weapons. But this is only on condition of an attack on it and its allies, and only against countries that also possess nuclear weapons," he said on Wednesday (30 January) speaking at the Russia Forum in Moscow.

"In this (Russia's) military doctrine is no different from the military doctrines of other nuclear states," Primakov said.

He has also voiced concern in connection with US plans to deploy missile defence facilities in Europe as well with "the USA establishing control over the policy of Georgia and Ukraine", NATO expansion and plans to set up US permanent military bases near Russian territory.

"It is hard to imagine that these actions are taken to prepare a war against Russia. But it is even harder to see them as defensive actions in view of Russian aggression, which no sensible politician believes in," he said.

"This leaves us with the conclusion that these actions are taken to exert pressure on Russia with the purpose to disrupting the restoration of its equal, leading role in international affairs," Primakov said.

"This policy - anti-Russian - increases the chances of "a fatal accident". The world may be made to face the threat of a global conflict without anyone whatsover wanting it," Primakov believes.

(In a later report at 0945 gmt, Interfax quoted Primakov as saying that the separation of Kosovo, part of the Serbian territory, is a phenomenon of forcibly granting autonomy from a unitary state, and that Kosovo may become a precedent for the world separatist movement.

"This may become a precedent used by many separatist forces to undermine the stability that took a lot of effort to establish, including on the post-Soviet space," the report quoted Primakov as saying.)