Russia announces changes to its nuclear doctrine based on the West’s actions

Russia will change its nuclear doctrine based on an analysis of recent conflicts and Western actions related to Russia’s war against Ukraine. Sergei Ryabkov, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister, announced this to TASS (source: https://tass.ru/politika/21738323).

“As we have repeatedly said on our part, the work is at an advanced stage, and there is a clear setup to make corrections, which, in particular, is due to the study and analysis of the experience of the development of conflicts in recent years, including, of course, everything related to the escalation course of our Western opponents in connection with the SVO (abbreviation for’special millitary operation’, as Russia calls its war of aggression against Ukraine, ed.),” Ryabkov said.

He explained that the process of finalizing the relevant document is underway, but it is too early to talk about specific deadlines for its completion. “The timing of the completion of this work is a rather complicated issue, given that we are talking about the most important aspects of ensuring our national security,” Ryabkov said.

Russian dictator Vladimir Putin has stated that the Russian nuclear doctrine is a living document that is subject to amendment if necessary. At the same time, he emphasized that Moscow assumes that it will never come to an exchange of nuclear strikes.

Earlier, Ryabkov noted that the West’s actions raise the question of bringing Russia’s nuclear doctrine in line with its needs. “The actions of the United States and its allies seriously aggravate the foreign policy situation, and Moscow is constantly analyzing how its nuclear deterrence documents meet these challenges,” the Russian official stated.

The “Fundamentals of the State Policy of the Russian Federation in the Sphere of Nuclear Deterrence of 2020” stipulate that “Russia’s use of nuclear weapons is possible if the enemy uses these or other types of weapons of mass destruction against Russia and its allies, receives reliable information about the launch of ballistic missiles to attack Russia and its allies, the enemy’s influence on facilities necessary for the appropriate actions of nuclear forces, as well as in the event of aggression against Russia using conventional weapons, when the very existence of the state.”

In March, US President Joe Biden approved a classified nuclear strategy plan that, for the first time, reoriented the deterrence strategy toward China to prevent the expansion of its nuclear arsenal.

According to the New York Times, the plan also aims to prepare the United States for possible coordinated nuclear challenges from China, Russia, and North Korea.

Earlier, the media reported that Russia was preparing its navy to strike targets in the depths of Europe with nuclear-tipped missiles in the event of a potential conflict with NATO.

This is based on classified documents seen by the Financial Times and sent to the newspaper by Western sources.

Before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, officers received detailed maps of long-range targets like the west coast of France and Barrow-in-Furness in the UK.

Earlier, the FT reported that the same cache of 29 secret Russian military files revealed that Moscow had been practicing the use of tactical nuclear weapons in the early stages of a conflict with a major world power. The latest revelations show how Russia envisioned a conflict with the West far beyond its immediate border with NATO, planning a series of devastating strikes across Western Europe.

In July, the U.S. State Department promised to monitor Russia’s actions amid new threats from the Kremlin to deploy nuclear missiles.

Reports from the NATO summit in Washington stated that the United States and Germany had decided to place Tomahawk missiles in Germany to bolster deterrence and safeguard their NATO allies.

On July 13, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that European capitals would become “potential” victims if European countries agreed to deploy US long-range missiles.