After the recent outrage over the updated Russian nuclear doctrine, the Kremlin is now tempering fears about Moscow’s possible use of nuclear weapons.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday that the ongoing conflict in Ukraine should not always be linked to a possible Russian nuclear response.
Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced an updated policy on the use of nuclear weapons, citing tensions with Western powers over their support for Ukraine.
The new guidelines allow a nuclear response to air strikes on Russian territory or attacks by a non-nuclear state backed by nuclear powers.
Russia reportedly repelled 125 Ukrainian drones on Sunday. In his remarks to the press in Moscow on Monday, Peskov addressed the question of whether this was not a massive air strike to which Russia, according to the new doctrine, could respond with nuclear weapons.
“There is no need to overinterpret this document. It’s one
extremely important, yes, and important decisions will too
be formalized accordingly,” Peskov said.
Western security experts have offered varying assessments of the threat, while Ukraine has called Russia’s revised policy “nuclear blackmail.”
Fabian Hoffmann, a German military expert, wrote about X that there are so far no credible signs of preparations for the use of nuclear weapons.
“There is a good chance that Putin will never resort to nuclear use because the risks are too great,” Hoffmann wrote.
“There is a high probability that Russia’s nuclear threats will not remain credible, will be limited to rhetorical levels and will not be translated into action,” the Oslo-based military researcher wrote.
