Putin said Russia does not have a mandate to launch a pre-emptive nuclear strike, unlike the United States, but Russia’s advanced hypersonic weapons would ensure Russia could respond forcefully if attacked.
Putin stressed that Moscow may adopt what he described as an American concept of using preemptive military strikes, noting that it has the necessary weapons to carry out this mission.
“We’re just thinking about it,” Putin said while attending a summit in Kyrgyzstan of a Moscow-dominated economic alliance of former Soviet republics, referring to US policy.
“Speaking of a disarmament strike, perhaps it would be useful to consider adopting the ideas developed by our American counterparts, their ideas, to ensure their security,” Putin said with a smile on his face, noting that such a preemptive strike aims to destroy command facilities.
Putin indicated that Russia has already commissioned hypersonic weapons capable of carrying out such a strike, while the United States has not yet deployed them. He also stressed that Russia now has more cruise missiles than its American counterparts.
And while Putin appeared to be referring to conventional precision-guided weapons when he spoke of the possibility of emulating the US strategy, he specifically indicated that the US had not ruled out the initiative of using nuclear weapons.
He added, “If any potential adversary believes that he can use the theory of a preemptive strike while we do not, then this prompts us to think about the threats that such ideas pose to the defensive positions of other countries.”
In Washington, US President Joe Biden’s advisers viewed Putin’s comments as a “threat of war” and another implicit warning that he might deploy a tactical nuclear weapon, according to a US official who was not authorized to comment and so spoke on condition of anonymity.
The official noted that Russian military doctrine has long stated that Moscow reserves the right to initiate the use of a nuclear weapon in response to large-scale military aggression.
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