Russian President Vladimir Putin has claimed that Europe is “defenceless” against Russia’s nuclear weapons.

The Kremlin chief sent a chilling warning yesterday, pointing out that Europe “does not even have a developed early warning system” as he suggested that a nuclear attack could come out of nowhere.

He told the St Petersburg International Economic Forum, nicknamed Russia‘s Davos, on Friday: “Europe does not have a developed early warning system. In this sense, they are more or less defenceless.”

He made sure to note that Russia has “many more” nuclear bombs than Europe, even when combined with the US. He explained: “Russia has many more [tactical nuclear weapons] than there are on the European continent, even if the United States brings theirs over.”

Tactical nuclear weapons are smaller warheads designed to destroy targets without widespread radioactive fallout.

Putin also refused to rule out changing Russia’s nuclear doctrine: the document that sets out the conditions under which Russia would use nuclear weapons.

He told the conference: “This doctrine is a living tool and we are carefully watching what is happening in the world around us and do not exclude making changes to this doctrine. This is also related to the testing of nuclear weapons.”

The Russian leader downplayed the immediate risk of a strike, saying the use of nukes is only possible in “exceptional cases” and that he does not believe “such a case has arisen”.

However, the Russian leader and his allies have increasingly used the threat of nuclear war this year, and the rhetoric appears to have escalated in recent weeks.

Also at the conference, Sergei Karaganov, the head of the Council for Foreign and Defense Policy and an ally of Putin, suggested holding a “nuclear pistol” to the temple of the West over the Ukraine war.

The threats come just days after President Putin suggested that Russia might supply advanced conventional long-range weapons to other countries to strike Western targets. The Russian move was in response to NATO allies, including France, the US and the UK, allowing Ukraine to strike Russian territory with Western-supplied weapons.

It is feared that Russia could supply weapons to US enemies such as Cuba and Venezuela, where Russian Navy assets are moving during Caribbean military exercises this summer.

Putin said: “We are not supplying those weapons yet, but we reserve the right to do so to those states or legal entities which are under certain pressure, including military pressure, from the countries that supply weapons to Ukraine and encourage their use on Russian territory.”

Vladimir Solovyov, one of Russian state TV’s most prominent hosts, told the BBC: “Wherever we think it is necessary, we’re definitely going to put them. As President Putin made clear, we’ll investigate this question.”

Solovyov, often seen as a propaganda mouthpiece of Putin, added: “If you are trying to harm us you have to be pretty sure we have enough opportunities and chances to harm you.”

When asked whether the threat was a bluff, he responded: “It’s always a bluff. Until the time when it is not. You can keep thinking that Russia is bluffing and then, one day, there is no more Great Britain to laugh at. Don’t you ever try to push the Russian bear thinking that ‘Oh, it’s a kitten, we can play with it’.”