EXTRA: Russians will go to heaven if there’s a nuclear attack, says Putin

President Vladimir Putin says should there be a nuclear attack, Russians will go to heaven as martyrs because they would be victims of an “aggression”.

Putin said this on Thursday while speaking at an international policy forum in Sochi, a city in the country.

The Russian president commended the new missiles in the country’s arsenal.

He said Russia would not be the first to initiate an attack but only use its nuclear weapons in retaliatory missile attacks if early warning systems spotted missiles heading toward the country.

“Only when we become convinced that there is an incoming attack on the territory of Russia, and that happens within seconds, only after that we would launch a retaliatory strike,”Putin said.

“It would naturally mean a global catastrophe, but I want to emphasize that we can’t be those who initiate it because we don’t foresee a preventive strike.

“The aggressor will have to understand that retaliation is inevitable, that it will be destroyed and that we, as victims of aggression, as martyrs, will go to heaven.

“They will simply die because they won’t even have time to repent.”