Alexander Schallenberg, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Austria, is afraid that not all levels of escalation in the war have been reached yet, as Russian President Vladimir Putin continues to threaten with nuclear weapons. 

Schallenberg has assumed that the war will continue, and both sides will be trying to start offensive operations in the spring. 

"We should fear that not all levels of escalation have been reached yet. The fact that the President of the Russian Federation keeps pretty much openly swinging a nuclear club is insane," Schallenberg said in an interview with Der Standard.

Schallenberg has pointed out that Austria’s approach, according to which nuclear weapons must be strictly forbidden everywhere, is right. 

"As long as they [nuclear weapons – ed.] exist, someone will threaten to use them. It also shows the level of irresponsibility of Russian leadership," he added.

Earlier, Andrei Kelin, Russia’s Ambassador to the UK, stated that Moscow was not planning on using nuclear weapons in the war against Ukraine.