Amendments to Russia's nuclear doctrine have been prepared and "will now be formalised", the Kremlin said Sunday, days after President Vladimir Putin warned that Russia could use nuclear weapons if it was struck with conventional missiles and would consider any attack backed by a nuclear power to be an attack by that nuclear power.
The Kremlin said on Sunday that amendments to Russia's nuclear doctrine had been prepared and were about to be formalised, meaning the relevant documents setting out the circumstances in which nuclear arms can be used by Moscow will be updated.
President Vladimir Putin warned the West on Wednesday that under proposed changes to the doctrine Russia could use nuclear arms if it was struck with conventional missiles and would consider any assault on it supported by a nuclear power to be a joint attack.
In other words, Moscow will consider responding with nuclear weapons if the West allows Ukraine to strike inside Russia with long-range Western missiles.
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Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told state TV reporter Pavel Zarubin on Sunday:
"The amendments have been prepared, and will now be formalised."
Peskov cited the international situation, escalating tensions near Russia's borders and the growing proximity of NATO infrastructure to them, and what he called the deeper involvement of Western nuclear powers in the Ukraine war on Kyiv's side, as the backdrop for the changes to the doctrine.
(FRANCE 24 with Reuters)
