Russia’s revised nuclear doctrine makes defeat over its army impossible — SVR chief

MOSCOW: The West acknowledges that Russia’s revised nuclear doctrine has significantly weakened the efforts of the United States and NATO to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia, making victory in conventional warfare unachievable, said Sergey Naryshkin, Director of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), in an interview with National Defense magazine.

The West has responded cautiously to President Vladimir Putin's announcement of changes to Russia’s nuclear deterrence strategy, he explained. "They realize that the revisions Putin outlined have largely undermined the attempts by the United States and NATO to achieve a strategic defeat of our nation. Furthermore, the expanded criteria for using nuclear weapons essentially rule out the possibility of defeating the Russian Armed Forces on the battlefield," Naryshkin noted.

On Tuesday, Putin signed a decree to update the country’s nuclear doctrine, the Basic Principles of the State Policy of the Russian Federation on Nuclear Deterrence, marking the first time that such a document explaining Russia’s policy on nukes was published. According to the latest version of the document, the core principle is that nuclear weapons are a last resort to ensure the protection of the country’s sovereignty. At the same time, parameters have been added that allow the use of nuclear weapons in case of new military threats and risks for Russia.

In particular, the document broadened the category of countries and military alliances that would be subject to nuclear deterrence. For example, the aggression of any non-nuclear state acting with the participation or support of a nuclear state will be considered a joint attack on Russia. Also, Russia can respond with nuclear force if it perceives a critical threat to its sovereignty, even with conventional weapons, as well as in case of an attack on Belarus as a member of the Union State, or if it receives credible information about a massive attack involving a group of military jets, cruise missiles, drones, and other UAVs crossing the Russian state border.

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