Russian President Vladimir Putin has approved an updated version of the nation’s nuclear policy, stipulating that a conventional attack on Russia by a country backed by a nuclear power will be treated as a coordinated assault.
The revised doctrine comes shortly after U.S. President Joe Biden authorized Ukraine to deploy U.S.-supplied long-range missiles against targets within Russia—a move strongly criticized by Moscow, which labeled it a significant provocation.
According to the updated framework, nuclear weapons are still regarded as a last-resort measure to defend national sovereignty. However, the scenarios in which they could be deployed have been expanded. This now includes large-scale military actions involving conventional weapons that present a critical threat, as well as attacks from non-nuclear nations supported by nuclear-armed allies.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov refuted claims that the timing of this update was a reaction to Biden’s decision, asserting that the revisions had been initiated earlier this year as part of a review to address shifting security dynamics. He described the document’s release as “timely.”
Notably, Tuesday marks 1,000 days since Russia began its large-scale invasion of Ukraine. Analysts interpret this policy shift as a strategy to pressure Western nations into scaling back military aid to Kyiv. The previous update to Russia’s nuclear doctrine was introduced in 2020.