Moscow decided on Wednesday September 25 to revise its nuclear doctrine in order to adapt it to the new context of the war in Ukraine. This was announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin during a meeting of the Russian Security Council devoted to this subject, a report of which was made public. This is a new step because until now, the head of the Kremlin had mainly increased declaratory threats.
Russian nuclear doctrine – the last public version of which dates from 2020 – only provided that Russia could use its own arsenal in the event of a nuclear attack or a conventional attack. “threatening the existence of the State”. This time, Mr. Putin wanted a “aggression against Russia by a non-nuclear State, but with the participation or support of a nuclear State, is considered an joint attack against the Russian Federation ». The reference to Ukraine and its ongoing offensive in the Kursk region, on Russian territory, is obvious.
The future doctrine should also provide that Russia will now be able to use nuclear weapons “if it received reliable information about the start of a massive cross-border attack from the air using strategic and tactical aviation, cruise missiles, drones and hypersonic weapons”declared Mr. Putin. This mention is directly linked to the ongoing negotiations between the West and Ukraine on the delivery of long-range weapons. Thursday, September 26, American President Joe Biden announced the sending of hovering bombs to kyiv with a range of 20 kilometers to 130 kilometers. These Joint Standoff Weapon (JOSW) adaptable to the F-16s which began to be delivered to Ukraine since the summer, could allow fighter aircraft, in certain circumstances, to strike Russian forces in depth.
Finally, the future doctrine could mention for the first time, in black and white, the fact that Belarus is now under the umbrella of Russian deterrence. “We reserve the right to use nuclear weapons in the event of aggression against Russia and Belarus as a member of the Union »specified Vladimir Putin. This announcement is consistent with the announced arrival, on Belarusian soil, since June 2023, of nuclear warheads, which would be the first Moscow's deployment of nuclear weapons outside Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union.
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Source: Lemonde
