The Kremlin stated on Sunday that changes to Russia’s nuclear doctrine have been prepared and are ready to be formalized, meaning that the relevant documents outlining the circumstances under which nuclear weapons could be used by Moscow will be updated.
Russian President Vladimir Putin warned the West on Wednesday that, according to the proposed changes to the doctrine, Russia could use nuclear weapons if hit by conventional missiles, and it would consider any attack against it supported by a nuclear power as a joint attack.
The changes are widely seen as Putin’s attempt to draw a “red line” for the United States and its allies, signaling that Moscow would consider responding with nuclear weapons if they allow Ukraine to strike deep within Russia with long-range Western missiles, Reuters reports.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told state television journalist Pavel Zarubin on Sunday: “The amendments have been prepared and will now be formalized.”
Peskov mentioned the international situation, the escalation of tensions near Russia’s borders, and the increasing proximity of NATO infrastructure to them, as well as what he called the deeper involvement of Western nuclear powers in the war in Ukraine by Kiev, as the backdrop for the changes to the doctrine.
