Putin updates nuclear doctrine after US allows Kyiv to strike inside Russia

A decree signed by Vladimir Putin updating Russia’s nuclear doctrine was published on the state’s legal information website on Tuesday.

According to the updated doctrine, a nuclear strike could be justified in case of “aggression against Russia and its allies by any non-nuclear state … with the support of a nuclear state”.

The decree, which specifies that Putin makes the ultimate decision on whether to use nuclear weapons, followed reports that US President Joe Biden had authorised Kyiv to use US-supplied ATACMS missiles to hit military targets deep inside Russian territory.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday that the reported policy change in Washington represented “a new round of tensions” and “a new situation in terms of the US involvement in this conflict", state news agency TASS reported.

Putin announced his intention to alter the doctrine during a conspicuously public meeting of his Security Council in Moscow in late September, when he said that according to the updated doctrine, “aggression against Russia by a non-nuclear state with the backing or support of a nuclear state would be considered a joint attack by both countries on Russia”.

Putin added that a “critical threat to sovereignty” posed by conventional non-nuclear weapons would also be seen as valid grounds for a nuclear response and that Russia reserved the right to use nuclear weapons in case of aggression against close ally Belarus.

A Russian nuclear response would follow in the case of “reliable information being received regarding the launch of an aerospace attack on Russia,” which Putin specified could include threats from “strategic and tactical aircrafts, cruise missiles, drones, hypersonic and other flying apparatus”.