The agenda of the meeting includes an updated version of the Fundamentals of State Policy on Nuclear Deterrence. “Together with the Military Doctrine, this is a document that officially defines and details Russia’s nuclear strategy. First of all, it sets out the basic principle of the use of nuclear weapons, namely, the use of nuclear forces is an extreme measure to protect the country’s sovereignty,” the president explained.
Over the past year, he said, specialists from the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the staff of the Security Council and other departments conducted an in-depth analysis and assessed the need to adjust Russia’s approach to the possible use of nuclear forces. A number of initiatives have been proposed as a result of this work.
“A number of clarifications have been proposed regarding the definition of the conditions for the use of nuclear weapons. Thus, the draft Fundamentals has expanded the category of states and military alliances against which nuclear deterrence is carried out. The threats of neutralization that are carried out with nuclear deterrence measures have been expanded,” Putin said.
“What else I would like to draw your attention to is that the updated version of the document proposes to consider aggression against Russia by any non-nuclear state, but with the participation or support of a nuclear state, as their joint attack on the Russian Federation,” he said.
The draft Fundamentals, the Russian leader continued, clearly set out the conditions for Russia’s transition to the use of nuclear weapons. “We will consider this possibility once we receive reliable information about the mass launch of aerospace attack weapons and their crossing of our state border,” Vladimir Putin said, clarifying that he was referring to “strategic and tactical aircraft, cruise missiles, drones, hypersonic and other aircraft.”
In addition, Russia reserves the right to use nuclear weapons in the event of aggression against Russia and Belarus as a member of the Union State. “All these issues have been agreed with the Belarusian side, with the President of Belarus, even if the enemy, using conventional weapons, poses a critical threat to our sovereignty,” Putin said.
Russian authorities have always taken a very responsible approach to nuclear deterrence, being well aware of the colossal power of these weapons, and have sought to strengthen the international legal framework for global stability and prevent the “spread” of nuclear weapons and their components, Putin stressed.
“At the same time, we see that the modern military-political situation is dynamically changing and we are obliged to take this into account, including the emergence of new sources of military threats and risks for Russia and our allies,” he said.
Today, the nuclear triad, the President continued, remains the most important guarantee of the security of Russia and its citizens, an instrument for maintaining strategic parity and balance of power in the world. And all the clarifications contained in the Fundamentals of State Policy in the Sphere of Nuclear Deterrence are thoroughly verified and proportional to modern military threats and risks in relation to the Russian Federation.
Recall that the Permanent Meeting on Nuclear Deterrence is a working body of the Security Council of the Russian Federation that makes decisions on the country’s nuclear policy. It meets regularly – twice a year. Today’s meeting was attended by Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov, First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov, First Deputy Secretary of the Security Council Rashid Nurgaliev, Head of the Foreign Intelligence Service Sergei Naryshkin, Head of the Ministry of Finance Anton Siluanov, Head of Rosatom Alexei Likhachev and others.
