Published October 5, 2024
Russia “will not hesitate” to resume nuclear weapons testing if similar steps are taken by the United States, according to Sergei Ryabkov, the country’s deputy foreign minister.
According to Russia’s TASS news agency, Ryabkov made the comments during an interview with state-backed RT television network, though there are no indications the U.S. is planning new nuclear weapons tests.
The remarks came against the backdrop of renewed nuclear threats from senior Russian officials as the Kremlin seeks to discourage Western military support for Ukraine. Speaking at Russia’s Security Council on September 25, President Vladimir Putin hinted Moscow could respond with nuclear weapons to what it described as a “joint attack” from a non-nuclear-armed country backed by an ally with nuclear capability.
Speaking to RT, Ryabkov said that if Washington conducts new nuclear weapons tests “we will not hesitate” to respond in kind. Ryabkov was repeating a warning he made to Russian news agencies in September when he said Moscow would not initiate fresh nuclear tests unless the U.S. made the first move.
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SOURCE: www.newsweek.com
RELATED: How Serious a Threat Is Russia’s New Nuclear Doctrine?
Russia’s nuclear shield insures it against NATO’s large-scale involvement in the war in Ukraine, but below that threshold, the West is doing more and more to support its Ukrainian allies, leaving the Kremlin facing the difficult question of how to restore the effectiveness of its deterrent.
Published October 3, 2024
Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced imminent changes to the country’s nuclear doctrine. Those changes, announced in public comments at the start of a Security Council meeting on September 25, amount to a lowering of the threshold for the use of nuclear weapons.
The specific wording of the new version of the doctrine will only be known once the corresponding decree is published, but Putin listed the main innovations in his short speech. The first proposal is that aggression against Russia by any non-nuclear state, but “with the participation or support” of a nuclear one, should be considered a joint attack. The second defines the conditions for the possible use of nuclear weapons: Moscow will be prepared to use them “upon receipt of reliable information of a massive launch of air and space attack weapons and their crossing of the state border,” including strategic and tactical aircraft, cruise missiles, drones, and hypersonic aircraft.
Finally, nuclear weapons may be used in response to an attack on Russia and Belarus using conventional weapons if that attack poses a “critical threat to sovereignty.” Under the current version of Russia’s nuclear deterrence policy, approved by Putin in June 2020—just four years ago, but in a very different pre-war era—Moscow is only prepared to use nuclear weapons in response to an attack using conventional weapons specifically against the Russian Federation, and only in cases “when the very existence of the state is threatened.”
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SOURCE: www.carnegieendowment.com
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