Titled “Basic Principles of State Policy on Nuclear Deterrence”, Vladimir Putin approved changes to the nuclear doctrine on Tuesday, chilling rules by which the country would now use its atomic arsenal.
The big change in the doctrine now says that an attack from a non-nuclear state backed by a nuclear state will be viewed by Russia as a joint attack on it.
Although the new changes were proposed in September, the document was approved only on Tuesday – which was coincidentally the 1,000th day of the Russo-Ukrainian War.
This development took place after the Biden administration had made a significant policy change, allowing Ukraine to use US-made ATACMS missiles to strike targets inside Russia for the first time.
This decision came just two months before President Joe Biden hands over power to Donald Trump, who has expressed scepticism about US military aid to Ukraine.
Now, even a large attack with missiles, drones or aircraft could be met with a nuclear response. The nuclear doctrine will also be extended to Russia’s close ally Belarus.
Moreover, any attack from a state which is a member of a coalition would be seen as aggression from the entire group.
Although Putin has threatened to use nuclear weapons earlier, Ukraine has dismissed it as “nuclear sabre-rattling” to discourage its allies from providing support.
However, Sergey Lavrov, Russia’s Foreign Minister has said that “we strongly are in favour of doing everything to not allow nuclear war to happen”.
Russia has signed a declaration at the G20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro along with the other countries, about which Lavrov said, “clearly said we want to move towards a world free of nuclear weapons”.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has said that the doctrine should go through a “deep analysis” and that it is a “very important text”.
On the other hand, Matthew Miller 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, of the Carnegie Russia and Eurasia Center, said, “the current situation offers Putin a significant temptation to escalate” and that Putin offers the West two choices “‘Do you want a nuclear war? You will have it,’ or ‘Let’s end this war on Russia’s terms,'” she posted on X.
