Putin’s amendments to Russia’s nuclear weapons doctrine should serve as a warning to Western countries

On September 26, the Kremlin made it plain that participation in assaults on Russia would have dire consequences, emphasizing that President Vladimir Putin’s changes to Russia’s nuclear weapons policy should serve as a warning to Western countries.

Putin said the day before that Moscow would consider any attack supported by a nuclear-armed nation as a concerted assault and that Moscow may use nuclear weapons in retaliation for conventional missile attacks.

In reaction to debates in the United States and the United Kingdom about whether to let Ukraine to shoot conventional Western missiles into Russian territory, Russia decided to change its nuclear strategy.

A statement from Dmitry Peskov, the spokesman for the Kremlin, said that revisions had been made to “The Foundations of State Policy in the Sphere of Nuclear Deterrence.” In response to a question about whether these modifications were meant to send a message to the West, Peskov said, “This should be considered a definite signal.”

Peskov stressed that the revised nuclear policy of Russia acts as “a signal that warns these countries about the consequences if they participate in an attack on our country by various means, and not necessarily nuclear ones.” He went on to say that the “direct involvement of Western countries, including nuclear powers,” in the conflict in Ukraine is the reason for the “unprecedented confrontation” that the world is now experiencing.

At the Council on Foreign Relations, retiring NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said, “Russia’s nuclear rhetoric is dangerous and reckless,” as reported by Reuters. “We are closely watching what Russia is doing.”