British Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab described talk of the threat of Russia using nuclear weapons in its invasion of Ukraine as brinkmanship and rejected President Putin’s statement that likened Western sanctions to a declaration of war.

“I think its rhetoric and brinkmanship,” Raab told Sky News when asked about a possible nuclear escalation by the Kremlin.

“(Putin’s) got a track record as long as anyone’s arm of misinformation and propaganda … this is a distraction from what the real issues are at hand – which is that it’s an illegal invasion and it is not going according to plan,” Raab said.

He rejected Putin’s statement from Saturday that likened the West’s sanction’s to a declaration of war.

“Sanctions are not an act of war, international law is very clear about that,” he said. “Our sanctions are entirely both legally justified, but also proportionate to what we’re trying to deal with.”

He also called on China and India to help increase diplomatic pressure on Russia

“China has got a job here. They’ve got to step up as well – this is a permanent member of Security Council – and India as well. We need to expand the diplomatic pressure,” Raab said.