Vladimir Putin said Russia may shift its nuclear policy to a primary strike strategy slightly than a defensive one as his war in Ukraine drags on and the West’s concerns about Russia’s ties with Iran grow.
The Russian president made the comment during a summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, on Friday, where he said he was considering a preemptive strike policy — a technique he credited to the U.S..
“Speaking a few disarming strike, perhaps it’s price fascinated by adopting the ideas developed by our U.S. counterparts, their ideas of ensuring their security,” the Russian strongman said.
Putin went on to say that Russia has already commissioned hypersonic weapons, which the U.S. has to date not deployed, and now has cruise missiles superior to the American arsenal.
Hypersonic missiles are able to traveling at 3,800 mph — over five times faster than the speed of sound — and might travel on complex trajectories, making them difficult to defend against.
“If the potential adversary believes that it will probably use the speculation of a preemptive strike and we don’t, it makes us think in regards to the threats posed by such ideas in other countries’ defensive posture,” Putin said.
Western intelligence officials are increasingly concerned that Russia could tap into Iran’s arsenal of hypersonic and ballistic missiles amid a deepening alliance, because it depletes its own stores in Ukraine. “Iran’s support to the Russian military is prone to grow in the approaching months: Russia is attempting to acquire more weapons, including a whole bunch of ballistic missiles,” the UK Ministry of Defense said in its day by day update Saturday.
Putin’s comments got here days after he warned of the “increasing” threat of nuclear war and discussed what he perceived as problems with a defense-first strategy.
“As for the concept that Russia wouldn’t use such weapons first under any circumstances, then it means we wouldn’t find a way to be the second to make use of them either — because the chance to achieve this in case of an attack on our territory could be very limited,” Putin said.
Russia’s doctrine currently says that the country can use nuclear weapons whether it is targeted by a nuclear strike or an attack by every other weapon that threatens “the very existence” of the country.
Nonetheless, Putin has repeatedly said that he’s prepared to make use of “all available means” to guard Russian territory since sending troops to Ukraine in February.
The most recent comments got here while Russian missiles continued to bombard a string of towns and cities in Eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk provinces, which make up a region called the Donbas that Putin has claimed as a part of Russia.
Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelenskey said the situation “stays very difficult” in several of the frontline cities.
“Bakhmut, Soledar, Maryinka, Kreminna. For a very long time, there is no such thing as a living place left on the land of those areas which have not been damaged by shells and fire,” Zelensky said in his nightly video address posted on social media. “The occupiers actually destroyed Bakhmut, one other Donbas city that the Russian army was burnt ruins.”