The Russian president signs a decree expanding nuclear doctrine
Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a new decree on Tuesday expanding the scope of his country’s use of nuclear weapons, indicating that Moscow may consider using them if it attacked by a conventional missile backed by a nuclear-armed state.
According to the latest update to the Russian doctrine, which defines the circumstances under which the Russian leadership might consider launching a nuclear strike, any attack using conventional missiles, drones or other aircraft could be considered justified.
The doctrine also states that any attack on Russia by a member state of an alliance would be considered an attack by the entire alliance.
The decree stated that one of the conditions justifying the use of nuclear weapons is the launching of ballistic missiles against Russia.
It also indicated another case that would warrant such use, which is the provision of territory or resources to support aggression against Russia.
This decree coincided with the 1,000th day of the start of the Russian war on Ukraine, and came after the United States gave the green light to Kiev to use long-range missiles to target military facilities inside Russian territory.
Amid rising tensions between Moscow and Washington, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stressed that the update of the nuclear doctrine came in response to ongoing changes, as Moscow sees increasing threats from the West to its security.
Meanwhile, as Russia intensified its strikes inside Ukraine, US President Joe Biden this week gave Kyiv the green light to fire long-range missiles deep into Russia, according to US sources, although the exact details of that authorization have yet to be officially announced.
Putin has repeatedly hinted at the possibility of using nuclear weapons since the start of the war in Ukraine in February 2022.
Russia also deployed tactical nuclear weapons in the summer of 2023 in Belarus, its ally, which conducted exercises with Moscow to test launchers for these weapons in May 2023.
