She told Times Radio: “This is more talky talky before the bullies start to hit each other, and I am afraid we may inevitably lead there.
“Putin knows he is out-financed and and out-gunned and out-manned the minute he brings NATO into this war, he will not do that.
“He has three nuclear powers against him. The GDP of the NATO countries is 100 times bigger than Russia‘s.
“One nuclear incident and Russia will be turned into cinders.”
Despite this, the nuclear threats remain a key part of Moscow’s strategy.
On Saturday, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev – a key ally of Putin – warned NATO would be making a “fatal mistake” if it dismissed Russia‘s nuclear threat.
Writing on Telegram, he said: “Life is much worse than their frivolous reasoning.
“A few years ago, they insisted that Russia would not enter into an open military conflict with the [mid-1900s Ukrainian far-right] Bandera regime, so as not to quarrel with the West.”
He added: “Russia regards all long-range weapons used by Ukraine as already being directly controlled by servicemen from NATO countries. This is no military assistance, this is participation in a war against us.
“And such actions could well become a casus belli (an act that provokes a war).
“This is, alas, neither intimidation nor bluffing,”