MOSCOW: President Vladimir Putin issued a warning to the West on Wednesday, stating that Moscow would view any attack on the country backed by a nuclear state as a coordinated one and that Moscow may employ nuclear weapons in the event that it is attacked with conventional missiles.
The Kremlin’s response to discussions in the US and UK on whether or not to allow Ukraine to launch conventional Western missiles into Russia is the modification of Russia’s stated nuclear doctrine.
Putin announced the revisions at the start of a meeting of the Russian security council, citing the rapid changes in the global environment as the reason for the increased risks and threats to Russia.
The 71-year-old head of the Kremlin, who leads Russia’s nuclear armament decision-making, stated he wished to highlight one significant development in particular.
“It is suggested that any non-nuclear state that attacks Russia with the involvement or backing of a nuclear state be regarded as their combined assault on the Russian Federation,” Putin stated.
Putin declared, “The conditions for Russia’s transition to the use of nuclear weapons are also clearly fixed.” He went on to say that Moscow would take this into consideration if it noticed the beginning of a large-scale missile, plane, or drone launch directed towards it.
According to Putin, if Russia or its partner Belarus became the target of attack, including the use of conventional weapons, Russia reserved the right to use nuclear weapons as well.
The president further stated that the clarifications were a confirmation that the nuclear doctrine was evolving and that they were appropriately calibrated to match the contemporary military threats that Russia faces.
Putin’s 2020 proclamation outlined Russia’s current public nuclear strategy, which states that the country may deploy nuclear weapons in the event of a nuclear or conventional attack that poses a threat to the state’s existence.
Putin’s list of innovations includes expanding the range of threats that would trigger a nuclear strike from Russia, adding Belarus as an ally under the nuclear umbrella, and suggesting that any rival nuclear power that supports a conventional strike on Russia would also be deemed to be attacking the country.
According to Central Intelligence Agency Director Bill Burns, the United States informed Putin about the repercussions of utilizing tactical nuclear weapons in 2022 because it was so worried that Russia may use them.
Conflict
The conflict in Ukraine has led to the most serious standoff between Russia and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, which is seen as the moment when the two Cold War superpowers came dangerously near to a nuclear exchange.
For months, the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, has pleaded with Kyiv’s allies to permit Ukraine to fly Western missiles deep into Russia in order to restrict Moscow’s capacity to conduct strikes.
The battle is moving into what Russian officials describe as its most deadly phase to yet, with Ukraine losing important towns to Russian soldiers that are progressively marching into the country’s east.
While some Western partners have pushed the United States to do exactly that, Zelensky has urged the West to cross and disrespect Russia’s so-called “red lines.” Putin’s Russia, which controls just under one-fifth of Ukrainian land, has warned that doing so puts the West and Ukraine at risk of starting a worldwide war.
