MOSCOW, November 26. /TASS/. Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov has recommended that those speculating about a potential nuclear war analyze Russia’s updated nuclear doctrine and listen to President Vladimir Putin’s statements on the topic.
When asked by a CNN reporter about potential risks of such developments, the Kremlin spokesman said, "You should read the relevant doctrinal documents that have been adopted in Russia in the past several weeks." "You should listen to President Putin’s statements attentively and carefully assess the actions by the authorities of this or that country of the collective West that is directly involved in these conflicts. And then it will be easy to answer this question," he stated.
On November 19, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree approving the country’s updated nuclear doctrine. The fundamental principle of the doctrine is that the use of nuclear weapons is a measure of last resort to protect the country’s sovereignty. Specifically, the document expands the range of countries and alliances subject to nuclear deterrence, as well as the list of military threats that such deterrence is designed to counter. Aggression by any non-nuclear state supported by a nuclear power will be seen as a joint attack on Russia.
On November 21, Putin said that the United States and its NATO allies had announced their approval of the use of long-range precision weapons. Following this announcement, Russian military sites in the Kursk and Bryansk regions were attacked with American and British missiles. In response, Russia used its newest intermediate-range ballistic missile, the Oreshnik, in a non-nuclear strike targeting Ukraine’s Yuzhmash defense plant in Dnepr (formerly known as Dnepropetrovsk).