Russia Updates Nuclear Policy

Russia has updated its nuclear doctrine following Ukraine’s launch of several long-range American missiles.

The updated doctrine lowers the threshold for Russia’s use of nuclear weapons.

According to the new nuclear doctrine, “Aggression against the Russian Federation and (or) its allies by any nonnuclear state with the participation or support of a nuclear state is considered as their joint attack.”

American Faith previously reported that Russia’s nuclear doctrine has historically emphasized nuclear weapons as an “extreme and compelled measure” primarily in response to nuclear aggression or when the state’s existence is in immediate jeopardy.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov said the revised doctrine is “aimed at ensuring that a potential adversary understands the inevitability of retaliation in the event of aggression against the Russian Federation and/or its allies.”

The White House declared it was “not surprised” by the update.

“As we said earlier this month, we were not surprised by Russia’s announcement that it would update its nuclear doctrine; Russia had been signaling its intent to update its doctrine for several weeks,” a National Security Council spokesperson told Fox News Digital. “Observing no changes to Russia’s nuclear posture, we have not seen any reason to adjust our own nuclear posture or doctrine in response to Russia’s statements today.”

“This is more of the same irresponsible rhetoric from Russia, which we have seen for the past two years. As we said to Russia weeks ago, Russia’s use of DPRK soldiers in combat operations against Ukraine presents a significant escalation of its war of choice against Ukraine and we warned that the United States would respond,” the statement continued.

Dmitri Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of Russia’s Security Council, said the new nuclear doctrine “means NATO missiles fired against our country could be deemed an attack by the bloc on Russia. Russia could retaliate with WMD against Kiev and key NATO facilities, wherever they’re located. That means World War III.”