Russia will change its nuclear doctrine.
The message comes as a reply to Western escalation of the war in Ukraine, says Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov.
“The work is at an advanced stage and there is a clear intention to make corrections,” he said on Sunday, according to the state news agency TASS.
Russia’s existing nuclear doctrine was established in 2020 by President Vladimir Putin. It says that Russia can use nuclear weapons if it itself were to be attacked by an enemy that uses nuclear weapons, or if it is subjected to an attack that threatens the existence of the country. It reports Reuters.
“There is a clear intention to make corrections”
Now, several Russian military analysts have called on Putin to lower the threshold for nuclear weapons use, and changes in nuclear doctrine do not appear to be far off, according to Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov.
“The work is at an advanced stage and there is a clear intention to make corrections,” he said on Sunday, according to the state news agency TASS.
Moscow accuses the West of waging a war against Russia through Ukraine, with the aim of dividing the country and inflicting a “strategic defeat” on them. This is denied by the US and its allies, who believe that they are helping Ukraine to defend itself against a colonial war of aggression from Russia.
There have been previous threats of nuclear weapons
On the first day of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Putin said that anyone who tried to obstruct or threaten Russia would face “consequences you have never faced before in your history”.
This was interpreted as a threat of nuclear weapons and since then there have been a series of more. In addition, tactical nuclear weapons have been deployed in Belarus.
Sergei Ryabkov did not give a direct indication of when the new nuclear doctrine will be in place, but he noted that:
“When we will complete this work is a rather difficult question, given that we are talking about the most important aspects of ensuring our national security.”