Putin adjusts the rules of the 'game': 1 press of a button?
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced Wednesday that Russia will revise its nuclear doctrine and threatens to use nuclear weapons if the country is attacked.
Russia last updated its nuclear doctrine in 2020. That now allows the country to use nuclear weapons in response to an existential threat or in retaliation for using weapons of mass destruction against Russia. But now Putin wants to readjust that doctrine.
“Aggression against Russia by a non-nuclear state, but with the help or support of a nuclear state, will be seen as a joint attack on the Russian Federation,” Putin declared during a speech at the Russian Security Council, broadcast on television. With this, the Kremlin boss is responding directly to countries thinking of allowing Ukraine to attack Russian territory with Western long-range weapons. Already another firm nuclear warning to the still-doubting countries.... And Putin obviously chose his moment carefully. He spoke this threatening language just at a time when world leaders were gathering in New York for the UN General Assembly.
Putin said Russia would consider deploying nuclear weapons if it had “reliable information that a massive launch of air and space weapons was coming and that they would cross our state border. I mean strategic and tactical aircraft, cruise missiles, drones, hypersonic and other aircraft.” Moreover, Russia will also defend its ally Belarus with nuclear weapons if necessary, Putin stressed.
(SR for Tagtik/Source: BBC - The Guardian - Belga/Illustration picture: Picture by kremlin_ru licensed under the creative commons attribution 4_0 international license)