Vladimir Putin has declared that his government is debating the rules and conditions in which Russia might use its nuclear arsenal – which it has been dangling over the entire world’ head since the beginning of its invasion of Ukraine.
In Putin’s new paradigm, Russia would consider an attack from a non-nuclear state that was backed by a nuclear-armed one to be a “joint attack”, which is exactly the case of Ukraine, largely supported from a military standpoint by the USA.
A new nuclear doctrine would “clearly set the conditions for Russia to transition to using nuclear weapons”, he says. He specified that Russia would consider such a “possibility” of using nuclear weapons if it detected the start of a massive launch of missiles, aircraft and drones into its territory – something to propose “critical threat” to the country’s sovereignty.
He added: “It is proposed that aggression against Russia by any non-nuclear state, but with the participation or support of a nuclear state, be considered as their joint attack on the Russian Federation.”
The country’s nuclear arms were “the most important guarantee of security of our state and its citizens”. In June, Putin declared that Russia’s tactical nuclear weapons would outnumber Europe and the USA’s tactical nuclear weapon tougher.
Ukraine has pushed into Russian territory this year and wants to target bases inside Russia which it says are sending missiles into Ukraine, reports the BBC. Hence, Russia wants to keep it further at bay by threatening to go nuclear.
Putin chose this moment to let these warnings simmer as Ukraine’s president Zelensky has travelled to the USA to plea long-range Western missiles from Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and Donald Trump. While democrats are keener to support Ukraine’s conditions, Trump has expressed confidence that he would strike a deal with Zelensky and Putin quickly.
Zelensky has publicly stated that he received intelligence showing Moscow was using satellites provided by other countries to gather information about Ukraine’s nuclear infrastructure.China, usually supporting Russia, has also tried to temper Putin – President Xi Jinping has warned him against using nuclear arms.
