Until now the country is governed by the norm of not to be the first in resorting to the atomic arsenal // It will take into account new threats to security
▲ Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday at a meeting with the permanent nuclear containment board in the Kremlin.Photo Ap
Juan Pablo Duch
Correspondent
The newspaper La Jornada
Thursday, September 26, 2024, p. 31
Moscow. Russian leader Vladimir Putin yesterday called together members of the permanent nuclear deterrence board, which meets twice a year, to update the foundations of the state’s policy on atomic deterrence and, first of all, to determine under what specific conditions Russia could use its nuclear arsenal.
These meetings, for obvious reasons, are held behind closed doors and the Kremlin only provides the president’s brief remarks at the beginning of the session, from which it is clear that Russia, in the face of the changing political and military situation in the world that must take into account new threats and risks to its securitylong ago concluded that It is essential to renew our approaches to the possible use of nuclear weapons.
The president emphasized that, in the new wording of the document, It is proposed that an aggression against Russia by any non-nuclear state, but with the participation or support of a nuclear state, be considered a joint attack against Russia..
In this regard, The conditions under which Russia can use its nuclear weapons are precisely set out and We will consider this possibility when we have reliable information about the beginning of a massive attack with air and space resources; I am referring to tactical and strategic aviation devices, cruise missiles, drones, hypersonic and other types of aircraft.Putin said.
The Kremlin also reserves the right to use its nuclear weapons in the event of aggression against Russia and (its ally) Belarus, even if the enemy, using conventional weapons, creates a critical threat to our sovereignty.
Until now one of the essential principles of its nuclear doctrine has been that Russia It will not be the first to use nuclear weaponswhich could be cancelled if that were created critical threatan ambiguous formulation that leaves a wide margin for interpretation.
The holding of this meeting when it remains to be seen whether the United States and its allies will cross Russia’s umpteenth red line regarding the use of its long-range missiles against Russian territory is – experts say – one more factor of pressure on the part of Moscow, but not the harshest response, such as the resumption of nuclear tests or the supply of missiles to an armed group that could create a similar threat to Washington or other NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) countries.
Meanwhile, on the eve of the presentation in Washington of the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, to his American colleague, Joe Biden, his so-called plan for victory –a list of ambitious demands that aims to force Moscow to accept kyiv’s conditions to sit down to negotiate the end of hostilities–, the Kremlin described yesterday as fatal error think it is possible impose peace to Russia.
The position, based on the attempt to force Russia (to accept a political arrangement that does not take into account its interests), is an absolutely fatal mistake because it is impossible to impose peace on Russia and it will have serious consequences for the kyiv regime.said its spokesman, Dmitry Peskov.
According to him, Russia wants peace, but only if its security is guaranteed and the goals set for the special military operation are met. Without achieving these goals, I repeat, it is not possible to impose anything on Russia..
In mid-June, President Putin formulated the Kremlin’s conditions for declaring an immediate ceasefire and beginning negotiations: that Ukraine agree to withdraw its troops from the four regions that Russia, still incomplete, annexed (Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia) and announce its binding commitment to renounce its membership in NATO, among other obligations. For kyiv, this is a question of an unacceptable demand for capitulation.
In this context, Zelensky demands that Biden, as Ukraine’s main supporter, give the green light to his call. plan for victorywhich among its military demands includes authorization to use long-range missiles (within a range of 300 to 450 kilometers) from the United States, Great Britain, France and, hypothetically, Germany, an issue that the head of the White House will discuss with his colleagues from those countries at a four-party meeting in a few days in Berlin.
