The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, approved this Tuesday a nuclear doctrine that allows responses with nuclear weapons to conventional attacks that threaten the sovereignty of Russia and Belarus.
The doctrine authorizes a nuclear attack in the event that the enemy conventional attack poses “a critical threat to the sovereignty and (or) territorial integrity” of both countries, which make up the Russia-Belarus State Union.
The document will also consider a “joint attack” to be the aggression of a country that lacks atomic weapons, but has the support of a nuclear power.
The doctrine, published on the legal information portal of the Russian State, expands the category of military alliances against which Russia will apply the nuclear deterrence strategy.
“The aggression of any State belonging to a military coalition (bloc, alliance) against the Russian Federation and (or) its allies is seen as an aggression of the coalition as a whole,” he notes.
These last two clauses are considered by analysts as a clear warning to the United States and NATO, in case they decide to get directly involved in the conflict in Ukraine.
Russia can also resort to nuclear weapons in the event of a “massive attack” with warplanes, cruise missiles, hypersonics, drones and other unmanned devices that violate the country’s airspace.
For the first time, the document refers not only to enemy aviation and hypersonic devices, but also to drones, an instrument of war that has gained great popularity in recent years.
At the same time, the doctrine emphasizes that Russia sees nuclear weapons as “an instrument of deterrence” of a defensive nature, the use of which is an “extreme and forced measure.”
Putin had announced the changes to nuclear doctrine at the end of September, but he promulgated it just as 1,000 days of fighting in Ukraine had passed.
Furthermore, the announcement takes place after the US, according to the Western press, authorized Ukraine to use long-range missiles against Russian territory.
Putin, who approved the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus after the start of the war, had warned that such a decision would mean that the US and NATO “are at war with Russia.”
“This is not the first time they have threatened nuclear escalation, which is completely irresponsible. “Russia has subscribed to the principle that a nuclear war cannot be won, so it should never be fought,” said the EU high representative for foreign policy, Josep Borrell, on Tuesday.
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