Aug 1 (Reuters) - There can be no winners in a nuclear war and such a war should never be started, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a statement released by the Kremlin on Monday.

"As a state party to the Non-Proliferation Treaty and one of its depositaries, Russia is consistently complying with the letter and the spirit of the Treaty," Putin said in a letter to participants of a conference on the treaty in New York.

"We proceed from the fact that there can be no winners in a nuclear war and it should never be unleashed, and we stand for equal and indivisible security for all members of the world community.”

(Reporting by Reuters)