Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, in an interview with TASS on August 31, reaffirmed that Moscow is changing its nuclear weapons doctrine, based on the need to respond to the West’s “escalation course.”
“As we have repeatedly said before, the work is in the advanced stage, and there is a clear intent to introduce a correction [to the nuclear doctrine], caused, among other things, by the examination and analysis of development of recent conflicts, including, of course, everything connected to our Western adversaries’ escalation course in regards to the special military operation,” the Deputy Foreign Minister said.
He explained that the document is being finalized, but that changes on such a serious matter need careful deliberation. “The timeframe for its completion is a rather complicated issue, considering that we are talking about the most important aspect of our national security,” Ryabkov noted.
Nuclear weapons expert Ted Postol reported on August 29 in Responsible Statecraft that in mid-March, U.S. President Biden adopted a new nuclear posture, in which the U.S is preparing to fight a three-front nuclear war against Russia, China and North Korea, by taking out all the ICBMs in silos in Russia and China with the use of “super fuse” improvements in the accuracy of existing U.S. nuclear warheads.
Russia’s current nuclear doctrine, set forth in an executive decree by President Vladimir Putin on June 2, 2020, states that Russia may use its nuclear weapons, if an enemy uses nuclear or another type of weapon of mass destruction against Russia or its allies, if there is an attack that affects Russian facilities necessary for a response, or if there is a “conventional aggression” against Russia, which threatens the very existence of the state, TASS reports.