“Amendments to Russia’s nuclear doctrine have been prepared and are ready for official ratification,” TASS said, citing the Kremlin.
The spokesman said Kremlin Russia’s amendments to its nuclear doctrine have been drafted but not yet formalized, he told TASS news agency in comments published Tuesday.
“It has already been formulated in practice. It will be formalized when necessary,” TASS quoted spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying.
What did Putin warn about previously?
The Russian president warned Vladimir Putin The West said earlier that Russia would be able, under the proposed amendments, to use nuclear weapons if it was hit by conventional missiles, and pointed out that it would consider any attack on it with the support of one of the nuclear powers a joint attack.
The amendments were widely seen as an attempt by Putin to draw a “red line” for the United States and its allies by indicating that… Moscow It will consider responding with nuclear weapons if those countries allow Ukraine to strike deep into Russia with long-range Western missiles.
President Joe Biden’s administration allowed Ukraine to use American-made weapons to strike deep into Russia, according to American officials and a source familiar with the decision issued on Sunday, in a major retreat from Washington’s policy.
What is Russia’s “nuclear doctrine”?
- Russia’s nuclear doctrine represents a set of rules established by the country to codify the use of nuclear weapons.
- Current doctrine states that Moscow “may use such weapons in response to a nuclear attack, or in the event of a conventional attack that poses an existential threat to the state.”
- However, an amendment to this doctrine occurred about 4 years ago, allowing Russia to use nuclear weapons for deterrence, meaning initiating a “preemptive” nuclear strike without being attacked.
- The current doctrine, after its amendment, states that Russia can launch a nuclear strike if it obtains confirmed and reliable information about a party’s intention to launch missiles at it.
- It also allows nuclear strikes to be launched in response to any type of attack on itself, or one of its allies Weapons of mass destruction (nuclear, chemical, or biological), or an attack with conventional weapons that threatens the existence of the state, or sensitive Russian sites being attacked.
- Since the start of the war in UkraineSome Russian military analysts are calling for Moscow to reduce the cases in which it is allowed to use nuclear weapons.
What does changing Russian nuclear doctrine mean?
Input Russia For “possible modifications” in its doctrine on the use of nuclear weapons, it would be given the freedom to carry out “preventive” nuclear strikes.
This means that Moscow will not only resort to the “nuclear solution” when exposed to a nuclear attack, but can now use nuclear weapons to respond to strikes that Russia considers “existential.”
The Russian Deputy Foreign Minister indicated that the decision to amend the Russian nuclear doctrine “is linked to the path of escalation pursued by our Western opponents” regarding the conflict in Ukraine.
Last month, Ukraine surprised Moscow by breaching its western border in an incursion by thousands of forces that Russia is still struggling to repel.
