The 4-year-old document has a bland, bureaucratic title — “Basic Principles of State Policy on Nuclear Deterrence” — but its contents are chilling, especially with its newest revisions.
Better known as Russia’s nuclear doctrine, the revamped version that was signed Tuesday by President Vladimir Putin spells out the circumstances that allow him to use Moscow’s atomic arsenal, the world’s largest.
This new version lowers the bar, giving him that option in response to even a conventional attack backed by a nuclear power. That possibly could include the use of U.S.-supplied ATACMS missiles by Ukraine to hit Russian territory — which Moscow says happened Tuesday when six missiles hit the Bryansk region.
Kremlin
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