Russia’s President Vladimir Putin.
| Photo Credit: AFP

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday (November 19, 2024) approved an updated nuclear doctrine, saying that Russia could consider using nuclear weapons if it was subject to a conventional missile assault on it supported by a nuclear power.

The decision to change Russia’s official nuclear doctrine is the Kremlin’s answer to a reported decision by the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden to allow Ukraine to fire American long-range missiles deep into Russia.

The updated doctrine, which outlines the threats which would make Russia’s leadership consider a nuclear strike, said an attack with conventional missiles, drones or other aircraft could be considered to meet these criteria.

It also said any aggression against Russia by a state which was a member of a coalition would be considered by Moscow to be aggression against it by the whole coalition.

Just weeks before the November U.S. presidential elections, Mr. Putin ordered changes to the nuclear doctrine to say that any conventional attack on Russia aided by nuclear power could be considered to be a joint attack on Russia.

The 2-1/2-year-old Ukraine war has triggered the gravest confrontation between Russia and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis— considered to be the closest the two Cold War superpowers came to intentional nuclear war.