A veteran Russian politician has suggested that Moscow could resort to nuclear arms to defend the nation if forces led by the U.S. or NATO moved against the Crimean Peninsula or eastern Ukraine.

Vyacheslav Alekseyevich Nikonov, a member of Russia's lower house of parliament and a political scientist involved with Russian politics since the 1970s, told attendees of the 2017 GLOBSEC Bratislava Global Security Forum in Slovakia on Sunday that Russian forces would need to utilize some form of nuclear warfare to deter U.S. or NATO forces from invading Russia should they decide to enter Crimea or eastern Ukraine.