By South China Morning Post | Created at 2024-11-19 09:49:42 | Updated at 2024-11-19 12:40:17
3 hours ago
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday signed a decree broadening the scope of when Moscow can use nuclear weapons in a clear message to the West and Ukraine.
The move comes on the 1,000th day of Russia’s offensive on Ukraine and after the United States gave Kyiv permission to use long-range missiles to strike military targets inside Russia.
The new doctrine outlines that Russia will consider using nuclear weapons against a non-nuclear state if they are supported by nuclear powers.
It doesn’t specify whether such an attack would necessarily trigger a nuclear response. It mentions the “uncertainty of scale, time and place of possible use of nuclear deterrent” among the key principles of the nuclear deterrence.
“Aggression by a non-nuclear state with the participation of a nuclear state is considered as a joint attack,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday – a clear reference to Ukraine and its Western backers.
Asked whether the updated doctrine was deliberately issued on the heels of Washington’s decision to ease restrictions on Ukraine using its longer-range missiles to strike Russia, Peskov said the document was published “in a timely manner” and that Putin instructed the government to update it earlier this year so that it is “in line with the current situation.”
