Vladimir Putin has called for an expansion of the cases in which Russia could be authorized to use nuclear weapons.
The return of the nuclear threat. As kyiv tries to convince the West to authorize the use of long-range missiles in its conflict with Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared, once again, that the Kremlin would study the “possibility” of using it. nuclear weapon. A cleverly orchestrated announcement broadcast on television to make an impression. Usually, this type of meeting with the nuclear security council is not intended to be public.
Under these conditions, the master of the Kremlin recalled that Russia had always had “a very responsible approach to these questions”. However, “we see that the current military and political situation is evolving very dynamically and we must take this into account,” he said. The head of state notably mentioned new threats looming over the country and its allies. This is why changes concerning the Russian doctrine of use of atomic weapons have been proposed. And most notably, an expansion of the cases in which Russia could be authorized to use nuclear weapons. Today, Russian doctrine authorizes its use in the event of a nuclear attack, an attack on its nuclear installations or in the event of a conventional attack “putting the existence of the State at risk”. Vladimir Putin now wants to move up a gear by including other cases in which the country could use it.
Countries with nuclear weapons in the viewfinder
If Vladimir Putin is used to this type of announcement, these latest statements must be taken seriously, because they take on a more threatening character, and not only against Ukraine with which the country is still at war. “He added three new points that could be integrated into the doctrine,” says Ulrich Kühn, director of the research program on arms control and emerging military technologies at the Institute for Peace and Security Policy Research. University of Hamburg, in the columns of France 24. Although Russia has threatened to revise its nuclear doctrine several times, the country has now made specific demands.
First, Moscow proposes to “consider the aggression of Russia by a non-nuclear country but with the participation or support of a nuclear country as a joint attack against the Russian Federation”, declared Vladimir Putin, during of the televised meeting. With this message, the master of the Kremlin is putting pressure on the nuclear powers who support an attack against Russia. We are thinking in particular of a potential sending of British or American long-range ballistic missiles by Ukraine, on Russian territory. By this postulate, Moscow would consider the United Kingdom or the United States as legitimate targets for a response, raising the threat of a global conflict.
This is why, for several weeks, American President Joe Biden has hesitated to give the green light for sending long-range missiles delivered by the West against Russian targets. “I think they are afraid of escalation,” declared Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on this subject on Sunday September 22. If kyiv considers this green light essential, Washington is trying to delay, citing a too low number of missiles to provide or that targeting, among other things, airport runways would have too little impact because they are repaired in just a few hours .
This may be an opportunity for Joe Biden to gain time before the presidential election next November. If the American president announced the delivery of long-range weapons to Ukraine this Thursday, September 26, as well as military aid of nearly 8 billion euros, the White House press release does not mention the hoped-for green light. by Ukraine to fire long-range missiles manufactured in the United States towards Russia. The missiles mentioned in the press release have a range of 130 km, instead allowing the Ukrainian army to target Russia from more remote positions, without endangering their planes.
Concerning France, according to figures from the Ministry of the Armed Forces, the country delivered for atotal value of 3.035 billion euros of military equipment to Ukraine, to which are added 2.1 billion euros paid to the European Peace Facility (EFF), i.e. military support of more than 5.135 billion euros since the start of the war.On May 28, Emmanuel Macron agreed for the first time to authorize Ukraine to strike military targets in Russia with French missiles, during a Franco-German council of ministers and in the presence of the German chancellor. Olaf Scholz. He completed his remarks by firmly ruling out affecting Russian “civilian capabilities”. France notably supplies Ukraine with artillery equipment such as Caesar cannons, AMX10-RC battle tanks, Bastion vehicles and even Milan anti-tank missiles. On the anti-aircraft systems side, unit rocket launchers (LRU),Crotale anti-aircraft defense systems, around a hundred Mistrals and a Mamba SAMP-T system supplied jointly by France and Italy, were made available to the Ukrainian army.
A considerable expansion of its nuclear doctrine
Vladimir Putin also plans to expand the use of nuclear weapons “if we receive reliable information about the massive launch of aerospace means of attack and their crossing of the border of our state. I am referring to strategic aviation and tactical, cruise missiles, drones, hypersonic planes and other aviation devices”, he declared this Wednesday.
Finally, Moscow could reserve the right to use atomic weapons in the event of an attack against an ally, for example Belarus. With such communication, and the proposal of three new clear cases in which Russia could use nuclear weapons, Vladimir Putin is sending a very strong diplomatic message to the West, giving credibility to the threat. It’s “a way of saying that the ball is in the West’s court and that Russia cannot be held responsible for what would happen if the warning was ignored”, believes Ulrich Kühn, still at France 24. It now remains to be known the position and reaction of Western powers after the latest declarations by the master of the Kremlin, Paris included.