Putin issues new nuclear threat against the West

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday made new threats to use nuclear weapons against the West, suggesting that any nuclear power supporting a country that attacks Moscow would be seen as participating in the aggression.

Addressing Russia’s Security Council, Putin said the country’s nuclear doctrine has been revised in light of an “emergence of new sources of military threats and risks for Russia and our allies."

“The updated version of the document proposes that aggression against Russia by any non-nuclear-weapon state, but with the participation or support of a nuclear-weapon state, should be considered as a joint attack on the Russian Federation,” Putin told the council.

He did not specify whether Russia could respond to such an attack with nuclear weapons, but said the conditions for their use would be “reliable information about a massive launch of aerospace attack means and their crossing of our State border.”

He added: “We reserve the right to use nuclear weapons in the event of aggression against Russia and Belarus as a member of the Union State.”

Putin’s decision to change Russia's official nuclear doctrine comes as the United States and the United Kingdom are considering whether to give Ukraine permission to fire Western-provided missiles deeper into Russian territory.

U.S. policy restricts Kyiv from using the American-made weapons like the long-range artillery like the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) to hit airfields and logistical hubs across the border.

But Moscow — which has on numerous occasions threatened the West with nuclear retaliation should it aid Ukraine in its war — maintains that U.S.-approved long-range strike capabilities would be an unforgivable escalation. 

“This would in a significant way change the very nature of the conflict,” Putin said earlier this month after President Biden met with Britain’s prime minister to discuss the restrictions. “It would mean that NATO countries, the US, European countries, are at war with Russia.”  

Reports suggest Biden is on the verge of allowing Ukraine to launch the long-range weapons as long as such missiles aren’t provided by the United States.