Russia 'refines' nuclear doctrine
Moscow is “fine-tuning” its nuclear doctrine in response to Western policies that appear to be deliberately aimed at escalation, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.
His comments come as Ukraine is pressing Western arms sponsors to give it the green light to use their weapons for long-range strikes deep inside Russia. Lavrov said on August 27 that Moscow was interpreting those demands as a distraction from the West’s own role in escalating tensions with Russia. “This is a bluff. The West does not want to avoid escalation. The West, as they say, is asking for trouble,” Lavrov told reporters at a joint news conference with his Yemeni counterpart, Shaya Mohsen Al-Zindani, of the Aden-based government.
Lavrov argued that statements by US officials that Europe would be the first casualties in a new world war exposed a flaw in Washington’s geopolitical thinking. Lavrov suggested that “American planners believe they can sit out” of a hypothetical war with Russia. “The American mentality is that of a master who sits on the other side of the river, confident in his safety and that others will do the dirty work for him. He expects others to die for him, not only Ukrainians but also Europeans, it seems,” Lavrov said.
US officials “are like children playing with matches. Handling nuclear weapons is a dangerous thing for adults,” Lavrov stressed. “We have our nuclear doctrine, which is being refined, and the Americans understand it very well,” he said.
Russia's nuclear doctrine allows for the deployment of weapons in retaliation for a first strike by an adversary or when the country's existence is at risk. In recent months, the Russian government has indicated that this key document could be changed in response to what it sees as an existential threat to Russia posed by NATO.
The US intends to significantly increase its nuclear weapons deployment after existing restrictions under a bilateral reduction treaty with Russia expire in February 2026. A roadmap for this was reportedly approved by President Joe Biden in March in the classified Nuclear Weapons Deployment Guidelines. US media said that this policy change stems from the desire to compete with China./.
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