Russia has two reasons that would force the country to respond using nuclear weapons, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview with NBC News.

An excerpt of the interview appeared on TODAYshow's Twitter.

“We have two reasons that would force us to respond using nuclear weapons. The first is a nuclear attack against us or an attack against the Russian Federation using conventional weapons. But in this case, if it’s the threat to a very existence of the Russian state,” said Putin.

As reported earlier, in his annual state-of-the-nation speech in Moscow, Putin highlighted new Russian strategic weapons, Hypersonic ‘Dagger’ Complex, an underwater nuclear drone capable of carrying a 100-megaton warhead and laser weapons.