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Following U.S. President Joe Biden’s decision to allow Ukraine to deploy American-supplied longer-range missiles to attack targets within Russian territory,
Russian President Vladimir Putin officially reduced the threshold for Russia to use its nuclear weapons on Tuesday.
The new strategy permits Moscow to respond with nuclear weapons even in the event that any country backed by a nuclear state launches a conventional strike on Russia.
Ukraine launched six American-made ATACMS missiles at a military installation in the Bryansk area of Russia, which borders Ukraine, early Tuesday,
According to Russia’s Defense Ministry. Air defenses destroyed five of the missiles and damaged one more. According to Ukraine’s military, a Russian munitions store was struck.
The policy is worded broadly to avoid a hard commitment to deploy nuclear weapons and to leave Putin’s options open, even while it imagines a potential nuclear retaliation by Russia to such a conventional attack.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called on the United States and other Western partners to examine the updated nuclear policy,
Stressing that the Ukrainian assault in Bryansk was an escalation. Without providing further details, Lavrov stated on the fringes of the G20 meeting in Brazil,
“If the long-range missiles are used from the territory of Ukraine against the Russian territory, it will mean that they are controlled by American.
Military experts and we will view that as a qualitatively new phase of the Western war against Russia and respond accordingly.” As the conflict enters its 1,000th day,
Moscow continues its slow-moving onslaught in Ukraine, and Putin’s willingness to use his nuclear weapons to pressure the West to back down is shown by the document’s acceptance.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded in the affirmative when asked Tuesday if a Ukrainian attack using longer-range U.S.
Missiles could possibly lead to a nuclear response, citing the doctrine’s clause that allows for it following a conventional strike that poses serious risks.
To the “sovereignty and territorial integrity” of Russia and its ally, Belarus. Regarding if the revised policy was purposefully released in response to Biden’s ruling,
Peskov said that it was released “in a timely manner” and that Putin had given the government instructions to amend it earlier this year to make it “in line with the current situation.”
When Putin presided over a conference in September to consider the suggested adjustments, he made the first announcements about changes to the nuclear policy. Prior to this,
Putin has cautioned the United States and other NATO partners that for Ukraine to strike Russian territory with longer-range missiles provided by the West would be tantamount to war between Russia and NATO.
Following its announcement that hundreds of North Korean soldiers had been sent to the Russian territory of Kursk to combat an invasion by Kyiv’s military, Washington has allowed Ukraine to employ the longer-range weaponry against targets within Russia.
According to U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller, Russia has attempted to “coerce and intimidate.
Both Ukraine and other countries around the world through irresponsible nuclear rhetoric and behavior” since the start of the conflict.
“I’m unfortunately not surprised by the comments the Kremlin has made around the publication of this new, revised document,” Miller said. “We will continue to call on Russia to stop bellicose and irresponsible rhetoric,”
He said, adding that Washington has not seen any need “to adjust our own nuclear posture.” See Also: Europe Downplays Russia’s Most Recent Nuclear Threats
The entrance of thousands of North Korean troops to participate in military operations against Ukraine was a significant escalation by Moscow that required a reaction, according to a U.S.
National Security Council official who asked to remain anonymous and was not allowed to speak publicly.
The “irresponsible rhetoric coming from Russia, and that is not going to deter our support for Ukraine,” British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said.
“We are now on Day 1,000 of a war. At the G-20 meeting in Brazil, he said, “That’s 1,000 days of Russian aggression, 1,000 days of sacrifices in Ukraine.”
“We have supported Ukraine from the beginning. I’ve been emphasizing once again how important it is that we provide Ukraine everything it needs for as long it takes to defeat Putin in this conflict.
In Warsaw, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said that her nation would not be frightened by Russia’s new strategy.
She added that while her nation has previously backed down in the face of Moscow’s aggressiveness, it would not do so again.
The updated Russian nuclear policy, according to Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski in Warsaw, is a veiled admission that Moscow’s conventional forces are inferior to NATO.
A non-nuclear country attacking Russia with the “participation or support of a nuclear power” would be seen as launching a “joint attack on the Russian Federation,” according to the revised policy.
Although it makes no formal promise, it states that any significant aerial assault on Russia may result in a nuclear reaction.
It also lists the “uncertainty of scale, time, and place of possible use of nuclear deterrent” as one of the fundamental tenets of nuclear deterrence.
In a direct allusion to NATO, the paper also states that an attack on Russia by a member of a military bloc or coalition is considered “an aggression by the entire bloc.”
In contrast to earlier iterations of the doctrine, it provides more specific guidelines for the employment of nuclear weapons,
Stating that they might be used in the event of a catastrophic air strike using planes, drones, ballistic and cruise missiles, and other flying vehicles. Compared to the previous version of the paper,
Which indicated that Russia may use its atomic arsenal in the event of a ballistic missile assault, the new phrasing seemed to greatly expand the triggers for potential nuclear weapons use.
Russia has been able to utilize Belarus’ territory to transfer soldiers into Ukraine and to use some of its tactical nuclear weapons thanks to President Alexander Lukashenko,
Who has controlled the nation for more than 30 years and has depended on Russian aid and subsidies.
In an effort to deter the West from increasing its support for Kyiv, Putin and other Russian officials have repeatedly threatened to use Russia’s nuclear weapons since sending soldiers into Ukraine.
For months, Russian hawks demanded that the doctrine be made more stringent, claiming that the previous iteration gave the wrong impression that Moscow would not use nuclear weapons and did not stop the West from boosting its assistance to Ukraine.
—Contributions were made by Vanessa Gera in Warsaw, Poland; Eleonore Hughes in Rio de Janeiro; and Aamer Madhani and Matthew Lee in Washington.