Russia 'refines' its nuclear doctrine.
Moscow is “refining” its nuclear doctrine in response to Western policies that appear to be deliberately aimed at escalation, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.
His comments came as Ukraine was urging Western arms donors to greenlight the use of their weapons for long-range strikes deep inside Russia. On August 27, Foreign Minister Lavrov said Moscow was interpreting those demands as a distraction from the West's own role in escalating tensions with Russia. “This is a deception. The West doesn’t want to avoid escalation. The West, as they say, is bringing trouble upon itself,” Lavrov told reporters at a joint press conference with his Yemeni counterpart Shaya Mohsen Al-Zindani of the Aden-based government.
Lavrov argued that statements by US officials suggesting that Europe would be the first to suffer in a new world war exposed a flaw in Washington's geopolitical thinking. Lavrov suggested that, “American planners believe they can sit on the sidelines” of a hypothetical war with Russia. “The American mentality is that of a mastermind, sitting on the other side, confident in his own safety and expecting others to do the dirty work for him. He expects others to die for him, not just Ukrainians but Europeans, it seems,” Lavrov said.
"American officials are like children playing with matches. Handling nuclear weapons is dangerous for adults," Lavrov emphasized. "We have our nuclear doctrine, which is currently being refined, and the Americans understand that 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 nation's very existence is threatened. In recent months, the Russian government has indicated that this key document could be altered in the face of what it perceives as an existential threat to Russia posed by NATO.
The U.S. intends to significantly increase its nuclear weapons deployment after existing restrictions under the bilateral arms reduction treaty with Russia expire in February 2026. A roadmap for this is believed to have been approved by President Joe Biden in March in the classified Nuclear Weapons Deployment Guidelines. U.S. media reports suggest this policy shift stems from a desire to compete with China.
