Opinion
Mint Quick Edit Don’t let the Russia-Ukraine conflict escalate further
Summary
- Moscow has changed its nuclear doctrine after Washington’s go-ahead for Kyiv to use key weapons in Russian territory. The changes raise uncertainty over what Moscow might do and leave the world less safe.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday modified his country’s nuclear doctrine to broaden the circumstances in which the Kremlin could use nuclear weapons.
Also read: Ukraine uses U.S.-provided missiles in Russia for first time
As reported, the changes sanction their use when it’s under a coordinated attack, which includes a non-nuclear state attacking it with the backing of a nuclear state.
Even a conventional attack by a non-nuclear state, if significant, would permit Moscow to retaliate with these weapons of mass destruction.
Also read: The terrifying perils of appeasing a warlike Russia
Scarily, this shift comes amid reports of Ukraine having fired US-supplied Army Tactical Missile Systems into Russian territory shortly after the US allowed such use.
For long, the US had not let Kyiv do this for fear of an escalation in the conflict. But with the scales possibly tilting in favour of Moscow as it deploys North Korean soldiers to the war-front, US President Joe Biden might have been forced to relent.
Some see this as too little too late. But the response it has drawn from Russia hints of how badly American calculations can go wrong.
Also read: Vladimir Putin is in a painful economic bind
New uncertainty now prevails over what Moscow might interpret as external aggression worthy of a nuclear response. And as the Ukraine War rages on, the world is less safe as a result.
