Wie Putins nukleare Bedrohung tatsächlich ausgehen könnte – und wie die NATO darauf reagieren kann

Barely an hour passed on Tuesday between Russia announcing it had updated its[ nuclear](https://inews.co.uk/topic/nuclear-weapons?srsltid=AfmBOoopwYoiOaPyzjuNSWOWH_L5FEOucJgFKjut3iYzpDEgapi3Qz1X?ico=in-line_link) doctrine and the Kremlin levelling a fresh threat against the West that it is prepared to unleash its atomic arsenal over the [Ukraine war](https://inews.co.uk/news/world/ukraine-us-long-range-missiles-russia-nuclear-3388583?srsltid=AfmBOoqj1Xem44-nIaxQFDtZTNxLsHDbmkhZos8qBY6DVzrJT2Z3dkxp?ico=in-line_link). 

As [Vladimir Putin’s](https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/putin-threatens-strike-back-uk-us-arms-russian-territory-3387506?srsltid=AfmBOoqJHgQmpdfRZJ30BUhTHcWAsDJQ_TwOZc9Kcr-a9nCE-XcSoHCD?ico=in-line_link) invasion of Ukraine on Tuesday entered its 1,000^(th) day, the Russian president has not been afraid to repeatedly deploy his nuclear doctrine – the set of rules or criteria under which Moscow says it would consider the use of atomic weapons – as a tool try to and shape the conflict. 

Indeed, the latest changes to the doctrine – in effect significantly widening Moscow’s grounds for nuclear retaliation –  brought with them the latest in a succession of nuclear threats from the Kremlin after Washington signalled this weekend that it was ready to let Kyiv use a conventional missile system – ATACMS – to hit targets on Russian territory. The Kremlin announced on Tuesday afternoon that six of the American missiles had indeed been launched by Ukraine – a deployment later confirmed by American officials. 

Asked by journalists whether Russia would now view the use of Western conventional missiles by Ukraine against its territory as meeting its criteria for considering the use of nuclear weapons, the Kremlin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “Yes, that is what is being discussed.” 

The result is that Moscow’s penchant for what one analyst describes as “nuclear bullying” is once more to the fore, and this time with an unusually sharp focus after the very scenario which it said could lead it to consider atomic weapon use – a strike on Russian soil by Kyiv using Western armaments – appeared to come to fruition. 

# How has Russian changed its nuclear doctrine? 

The latest revision to the Kremlin’s rulebook for deploying the ultimate weapon was announced in September against a backdrop of an increasingly entrenched and deadlocked war in Ukraine. 

The proposals, now formally enacted by Putin, involved a significant widening of the section of the doctrine devoted to the circumstances when an attack by conventional weapons against Russia would lead it to consider the use of nuclear weapons in response.  

Previously, the Kremlin has said it would look at nuclear armaments when aggression with conventional weapons against Russia meant “the very existence of the state is threatened”. 

That criteria, which had applied since 2020, has now been considerably widened to allow nuclear deployment when a conventional attack “poses a critical threat to sovereignty and/or territorial integrity”. 

With a clear nod to the situation in Ukraine, the revised doctrine caters for a scenario whereby Russia is attacked by a non-nuclear state “with the support of a nuclear state”, using conventional weapons supplied by the nuclear state. In turn, the document makes clear that if the nuclear state is part of a defence coalition – ie Nato – then Russia would consider itself to have been attacked by that coalition. 

Underlining this point, Mr Peskov said on Tuesday: “The Russian Federation reserves the right to use [nuclear weapons](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/nuclear-weapons/index.html) in the event of aggression against it with the use of conventional weapons.”