Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a revised nuclear doctrine, declaring that a conventional attack on Russia by any nation supported by a nuclear power would be considered a joint assault, potentially triggering a nuclear response.
The announcement came after U.S. President Joe Biden lifted restrictions on Ukraine, allowing it to use U.S.-supplied long-range weapons to target military objectives within Russia.
However, Patricia Lewis, head of the International Security Program at Chatham House, stated that Putin’s move was not a direct response to Biden’s decision.
“This is a new nuclear doctrine, a modified version of Russia’s previous doctrine, drawing on older language used in Russian nuclear policy many years ago,” Lewis explained. She noted that the prior doctrine permitted the use of nuclear weapons only in the face of an existential threat to the Russian state.
“This new doctrine significantly lowers the threshold, linking it to threats against territorial integrity and specifically mentioning conventional weapons, such as missiles, drones, and other types of conventional arms,” Lewis said.
Following the Kremlin’s announcement, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock accused President Putin of playing the “fear card” and vowed that Germany would not be intimidated by Russia’s new nuclear policy. She emphasized that Germany had learned from past mistakes and would not repeat them.
Minister Baerbock made her remarks during a meeting of foreign ministers from Poland, Germany, France, and Italy, where they discussed increasing European military support for Ukraine and strengthening ties with the United States under President-elect Donald Trump.
Speaking at a press conference in Poland, Baerbock emphasized the importance of listening to warnings from Ukraine’s neighboring countries.
“President Putin is playing on our fears. He didn’t start this just 1,000 days ago; he began in 2014. And Germany, in particular, made a mistake back then by succumbing to fear and, above all, by not listening to its partners—especially our Eastern European partners—who warned us at the time that we should not rely on Kremlin promises but instead invest in our own security and defense,” Baerbock stated.
President Putin has previously warned the U.S. and NATO allies that allowing Ukraine to use Western weapons to strike Russian territory would mean that Russia and NATO are effectively at war.
The updated text of the nuclear doctrine states that Russia may use nuclear weapons in response to a nuclear attack or a conventional attack that poses a “critical threat to the sovereignty and territorial integrity” of Russia and its ally, Belarus. The wording leaves ample room for interpretation.
Analyst Patricia Lewis remarked that the new Russian doctrine is concerning for NATO countries and Ukraine, though not unexpected.
“That said, NATO countries and Ukraine have long been worried about this, uncertain about how far President Putin might go with the use of nuclear weapons. So, in that sense, it may not significantly alter the situation,” she noted.
The announcement of changes to Russia’s nuclear doctrine coincided with the 1,000th day of aggression in Ukraine.
