MOSCOW, September 26. /TASS/. Reasonable Western leaders understand the seriousness of Russian President Vladimir Putin's statements on nuclear deterrence made in the context of an unprecedented confrontation and direct involvement of Western nuclear powers in the Ukrainian conflict, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

"Not only this time, but also previous reasonable leaders, reasonable politicians, have fully understood the seriousness of President Putin's statements, especially when it comes to such an unprecedented confrontation provoked by the direct involvement of Western countries, including nuclear powers, in the Ukrainian conflict," he said, when asked whether Western politicians had understood the seriousness of Putin's statements the day before.

Putin held a meeting of the Russian Security Council on nuclear deterrence on Wednesday, September 25. Previously, such events were not open to the public. This time, the public part included an introductory speech by the head of state, where he spoke about Russia's draft updated nuclear doctrine. At the same time, the body itself has existed for a long time within the structure of the Security Council. It was created to work out decisions on the country's nuclear policy.

The current version of the Russian nuclear doctrine, which is to be amended, was adopted in June 2020. It replaced a similar document adopted ten years earlier.