Ramesh #NotGoingBackNewly updated #NuclearDoctrine of #Russia signed by #Putin today lowers the bar and gives him the option of nuclear response, even for a conventional attack, backed by a nuclear power.
Effectively covers attacks by US-backed #Ukraine.
The new doctrine says Moscow could use nuclear weapons “in response to the use of nuclear and other types of #WMD” against Russia or its allies, as well as “in the event of aggression” against Russia and Belarus with conventional weapons…
The Kremlin has revised its nuclear policy. Does that make the use of atomic weapons more likely?
The 4-year-old document is known as Russia nuclear doctrine and President Vladimir Putin has signed a revamped version lowers the bar on when he could use Moscow’s atomic arsenal, the world's largest. The new version, which has been in the works for months, gives him that option in response to even a conventional attack by a nonnuclear nation that is backed by a nuclear power. That possibly could include the use of U.S.-supplied ATACMS missiles by Ukraine to hit Russian territory — which Moscow says happened Tuesday when six missiles hit the Bryansk region. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov emphasized such strikes could potentially trigger a nuclear response under the revised document.