Vladimir Putin approved amendments to the nuclear policy on Tuesday, governing how the country will henceforth utilize its atomic weapons.
The policy has changed significantly, and Russia now considers an assault by a non-nuclear state backed by a nuclear state to constitute a combined strike on it.
Although the additional revisions were presented in September, the document was not accepted until Tuesday, which also happened to be the 1,000th day of the Russo-Ukrainian War.
This event occurred after the Biden administration made a dramatic policy shift, enabling Ukraine to utilize US-built ATACMS missiles to strike targets inside Russia for the first time.
This decision occurred barely two months before President Joe Biden handed over authority to Donald Trump, who has expressed reservations about US military assistance to Ukraine.
Even a large-scale missile, drone, or aircraft strike may now elicit a nuclear reaction. The nuclear strategy will also apply to Russia’s close ally Belarus.
Furthermore, any assault by a coalition member state would be interpreted as hostility on behalf of the whole organization.
Although Putin has previously threatened to use nuclear weapons, Ukraine has rejected it as “nuclear saber-rattling” to deter its friends from offering assistance.
However, Russia’s Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, has stated that “we strongly support doing everything to prevent a nuclear war.”
Russia and the other nations signed a declaration at the G20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro, which, according to Lavrov, “clearly stated we want to move towards a world free of nuclear weapons.”
Dmitry Peskov, a Kremlin spokesperson, has stated that the doctrine requires a “deep analysis” and is a “very important text”.
Matthew Miller, on the other hand, said, “I’m unfortunately not surprised by the comments the Kremlin has made around the publication of this new, revised document,” and that since the start of the war, Russia has tried to “coerce and intimidate both Ukraine and other countries around the world through irresponsible nuclear rhetoric and behaviour.”
Tatiana Stanovaya, a political scientist at the Carnegie Russia and Eurasia Center, stated that “the current scenario provides Putin a major temptation to escalate” and that Putin presents the West with two options: “Do you want a nuclear war? You will get it,’ or ‘Let’s conclude this conflict on Russia’s terms,'” she wrote on X.
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Source: NDTV
