Putin reveals new rules on nuclear weapons in Russia’s latest threat

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced proposed changes to Moscow’s rule book on the use of nuclear weapons in another thinly-veiled warning to Western nations that continue to back Kyiv in the war in Ukraine.

In opening remarks before a meeting with senior officials on Russia’s nuclear deterrence on Wednesday, which were released by the Kremlin and translated by NBC News, Putin said that “a number of clarifications … defining the conditions for the use of nuclear weapons” are being made to the document that defines Russia’s nuclear doctrine.

He added that draft amendments to the doctrine expand “the category of states and military alliances in relation to which nuclear deterrence is carried out” and include a supplemented “list of military threats” that Russia would see as a justification to deploy nuclear weapons.

In a pointed warning to the Western nations as they continue to support Ukraine, Putin announced that any attack against Russia by a non-nuclear state that was backed by a nuclear-armed one would be considered a “joint attack.”

“What I would especially like to draw your attention to, is that in the updated version of the document, aggression against Russia by any non-nuclear state, but with the participation or support of a nuclear state, is proposed to be considered as their joint attack on the Russian Federation,” Putin said.

The latest comments on imminent changes to Russia’s nuclear doctrine, which sets out the conditions under which nuclear weapons can be used, have been widely seen as a warning to the West as certain allies — specifically the U.S. and the U.K. — consider whether to give Ukraine the green light to use long-range weaponry they’ve donated to Kyiv against military targets within Russia.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is currently in the U.S., where he has pressed officials to maintain support for Kyiv as the presidential election nears in November. He is due to meet incumbent President Joe Biden in Washington on Thursday and is expected to press the Washington leader on Kyiv’s request to use long-range missiles, a strategy that Ukraine believes could change the dial in the war that started in February 2022.

Ahead of the visit, Zelenskyy said the U.S. and the U.K. had still not officially authorized Kyiv to use such weapons in this way, despite public comments to the contrary.

“We have long-range weapons. But not in the amount we need, let’s say. Nevertheless, we have this package — [of long-range missiles] Storm Shadow, ATACMS, SCALP. But neither America nor Great Britain gave us permission to use these weapons on the territory of Russia, for any purpose at any distance. We…