Russia threatens to review its nuclear doctrine amid Kursk invasion with Western weapons

Russia threatened this Sunday to carry out changes in its nuclear doctrine in response to the actions of the West in the conflict in Ukraine, said Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov.

This announcement is made in Full-scale offensive by kyiv in the Russian Kursk regionin which The Ukrainian army is using weapons from its Western allies like the US HIMARS missile launchers.

Ryabkov did not specify what these changes would consist of, but he linked them to the “escalation of our Western adversaries” in relation to the conflict in Ukraine.

According to Reuters, some hawks among Russian military analysts have urged Vladimir Putin to lowering the threshold for nuclear use in order to “sober up Russia’s enemies in the West.”

Vladimir himself Putin He had already warned about this possibility on June 7 at an Economic Forum in St. Petersburg. “The doctrine is a living instrument and we are closely following what is happening in the world around us. And we do not rule out introducing some changes to this doctrine,” he said at the time.

Putin warned the First day of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia in February 2022 that anyone who tried to hinder or threaten it would suffer “consequences that it has never faced in its history”.

Since then, he has issued a series of additional statements that the West considers nuclear threats and has announced the deployment of Russian tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus.

That has not deterred the United States and its allies from increasing military aid to Ukraine in ways that were unthinkable when the conflict began, including the supply of tanks, long-range missiles and F-16 fighter jets.

The Ukrainian Army surprised Moscow last month with athe incursion into the Kursk region of thousands of troops that Russia is still struggling to repel.

The President Volodymyr Zelensky He said that the operation It was a mockery of Putin’s “red lines.”

Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskovsaid in an interview published last Sunday that The West was “going too far” and that Russia would do everything possible to protect its interests.

What does the Russian nuclear doctrine say?

Russia’s current nuclear doctrine, laid down in a Putin decree in 2020, states that can use its nuclear arsenal, the largest in the world, in the event of an attack with this type of weapons by an enemy or a conventional attack that threatens the existence of the State.

Formally known as the Basic principles of state policy on nuclear deterrence, The doctrine describes nuclear weapons as “a means of deterrence” pointing out that Its use is an “extreme and obligatory measure”. It states that Russia “takes all necessary efforts to reduce the nuclear threat and prevent the aggravation of interstate relations that could trigger military conflicts, including nuclear ones.”

The document states that “nuclear deterrence is intended to provide a potential adversary with an understanding of the inevitability of retaliation in the event of aggression against the Russian Federation and/or its allies.”

According to current doctrine,Russia could use its nuclear weapons in the following situations specific:

• If reliable information is received about the launch of ballistic missiles against the territory of Russia or its allies.

• If nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction are used against Russia or its allies.

• If an enemy attack with conventional weapons threatens Russia’s existence.

• If attacks occur on critical Russian government or military facilities that could undermine the country’s ability to launch a retaliatory nuclear strike.