MOSCOW, April 26. /TASS/. Washington has expanded the options of using nuclear weapons in its nuclear doctrine, which may trigger catastrophic consequences, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said ahead of the third meeting of the preparatory committee of the 2020 NPT Review Conference.

"In the NPT context the United States’ updated doctrinal principles look extremely dangerous. In particular, the American nuclear doctrine has considerably expanded the number of options permitting the use of nuclear weapons, including for a preventive strike. For the first time ever the United States’ nuclear doctrine contains no clear mention of Washington’s commitment to its obligations under the NPT," Ryabkov said.

He also recalled that the United States was going to deploy new high accuracy nuclear airdrop bombs.

"This means that Washington is deliberately lowering the threshold of nuclear weapons, thus intentionally increasing the risk of a nuclear conflict that would entail catastrophic effects. I would like to draw the attention of our European counterparts to the fact that a partner of the European members of NATO regards the territory of Europe as a potential battlefield for using nuclear weapons," he said.

Against this background, he said, Washington’s repeated allegations about a growing Russian nuclear threat look particularly cynical.

"The principles of the Russian military doctrine concerning the potential use of nuclear weapons are deliberately distorted. The public at large is being persuaded that Russia is reconsidering its viewpoints on the place and role of nuclear weapons and puts an ever stronger emphasis on them. All this has nothing to do with the reality," Ryabkov said.