President Putin Approves Revision Of Russia's Nuclear Doctrine

JAKARTA - Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed amenable to the Constitutional Principles of State Policy in the Nuclear Counterterrorism Sector, an updated nuclear doctrine.

The document has been published, quoted from state news agency TASS, Tuesday 19 November.

The basic principle of this doctrine is that the use of nuclear weapons is the last step to protect the country's sovereignty. The emergence of new military threats and risks prompted Russia to clarify the conditions for using nuclear weapons.

In particular, the amended doctrine expands the reach of countries and military alliances subject to nuclear deterrence, as well as a list of military threats designed to counter the deterrence.

In addition, the document states Russia will now see any attacks by non-nuclear countries supported by nuclear powers as a combined attack.

Moscow also has the right to consider a nuclear response to conventional weapons attacks that threaten its sovereignty, launch of enemy aircraft, missiles, and large-scale drones targeting Russian territory, Russia's border crossing, and attacks on its Belarusian allies.

Prior to the latest revision, Russia's nuclear doctrine was approved in June 2020, replacing a similar document that has been in effect for ten years.

Citing Reuters, the decision to change Russia's official nuclear doctrine was the Kremlin's answer to a decision reportedly made by US President Joe Biden's Administration to allow Ukraine to fire long-range American missiles at Russia.

The two-and-a-half-year Ukraine war has sparked the most severe confrontation between Russia and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, which is considered the closest crisis between the two countries to nuclear war in the Cold War era.