In case of a major air attack | Putin again brandishes nuclear threat

(Moscow) Russian President Vladimir Putin warned Wednesday that his country could use nuclear weapons in the event of a “massive launch” of air strikes and that any assault supported by a nuclear power could be considered a “joint” aggression.

He did not directly mention Ukraine and its Western allies, but the reference to this conflict, which began in February 2022, is clear.

This comes as Ukraine tries to convince its allies to let it use long-range missiles against Russian territory.

Mr Putin said “clarifications” had been offered regarding Russia’s nuclear policy during a televised meeting with members of Russia’s Security Council.

“It is proposed to consider aggression against Russia by a non-nuclear country but with the participation or support of a nuclear country as a joint attack against the Russian Federation,” he said during a televised meeting with members of the Russian Security Council.

Ukraine does not have nuclear weapons, unlike some of its Western partners, namely the United States, France and the United Kingdom.

Deterring a large air attack

The president also warned that his country could resort to nuclear weapons in the event of a major air attack on its territory.

“We will consider such a possibility if we receive reliable information about the massive launch of aerospace attack means and their crossing of our state border,” he warned.

Vladimir Putin stressed that this included “strategic and tactical” aviation, missiles and drones.

“We reserve the right to use nuclear weapons in the event of aggression against Russia or Belarus,” his very close ally, he added.

Since the start of the conflict in Ukraine in February 2022, Mr Putin has blown hot and cold about the possible use of nuclear weapons.

He explained these proposed changes on Wednesday by “the emergence of new sources of threats and military risks for Russia and its allies.”

“We see that the current military and political situation is evolving in a very dynamic way and we must take this into account,” he continued.

The Russian nuclear doctrine provides for a “strictly defensive” use of atomic weapons in the event of an attack on Russia with weapons of mass destruction or in the event of aggression with conventional weapons “threatening the very existence of the state.”

Threats and exercises

Russia deployed tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus in the summer of 2023, which, like Russia, shares a border with Ukraine.

The Russian military also announced in May that it had carried out military exercises near Ukrainian territory on the use of tactical nuclear weapons in response to “threats from certain Western officials.”

The tactical nuclear weapon, which has a smaller explosive charge than the strategic nuclear weapon, is theoretically intended to destroy targets on the battlefield and can be fired from land vehicles, artillery pieces, ships or aircraft.

Vladimir Putin’s statements also come in the middle of the UN General Assembly in New York. More than 100 heads of state or government will take turns speaking at the podium until the end of the week.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday accused Russia before the United Nations of wanting to strike Ukrainian nuclear infrastructure in order to cause a “catastrophe.”

Ukraine is demanding permission to strike Russian territory with longer-range missiles, but Western powers, including US President Joe Biden, fear Moscow’s reaction.

Vladimir Putin warned in mid-September that such a decision would mean that “NATO countries are at war with Russia.”

The Ukrainian head of state said that a quick decision was necessary because Russia was “moving” its planes to more distant bases.

Mr Zelensky has been in the United States since Sunday, and is due to present details of his “victory plan” to end the conflict to Joe Biden and Congress in Washington on Thursday.