Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Sunday that Moscow’s revised nuclear weapons doctrine is necessary as NATO infrastructure moves closer to Russia’s borders.
Peskov told Russian state television that Western powers are seeking victory over Russia through their arms supplies to Ukraine.
On Wednesday, President Vladimir Putin announced an updated policy on the use of nuclear weapons, citing tensions with Western powers over their support for Ukraine.
Responding to a question about who would make the decision to deploy nuclear weapons in light of the Ukrainian attacks on Russian territory, Peskov said it was for military experts.
“They are keeping a close eye on what weapons and how they will be deployed,” he said.
Russian commentators have in the past called for the use of nuclear weapons to secure victory in the current war with Ukraine.
Moscow accuses Ukraine’s Western allies of involvement in the war through their arms supplies.
Ukraine has called the revised Russian policy “nuclear blackmail” and appealed to the West not to be intimidated and called on its Western supporters to revise their policy limiting the use of their weapons on Russian territory.
Speaking to the Russian Security Council on Wednesday, Putin said the updated document proposes that “aggression against Russia by a non-nuclear state, but with the involvement or support of a nuclear state, should be considered a joint attack on the Russian Federation. ”
In the event of a massive conventional air strike that threatens Russia’s survival, Russia could respond with nuclear weapons, he said.
