Putin said he was thinking about including a preventive nuclear strike in Russia's military doctrine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the Russian authorities are considering the possibility of including a preventive disarming nuclear strike in the country's military doctrine. He stated this at a press conference following his visit to Bishkek. A transcript of Putin's speech has been published on the Kremlin's website.

According to Putin, compared to the United States, Russia has both "more modern and more efficient" cruise missiles and hypersonic systems, which "there are not yet in the States."

Therefore, if we are talking about this disarming strike, then perhaps we should think about adopting the achievements of our American partners and their ideas of ensuring our security. We're just thinking about it. No one was shy when talking about it out loud in previous times and years.

Putin noted that the US strategy spelled out a preventive strike, and the Russian doctrine "formulated a retaliatory strike."

But if a potential adversary believes that it is possible to use the theory of a preventive strike, but we do not, then nevertheless this makes us think about the threats that such ideas pose to us in the field of defense of other countries.

• Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin has regularly threatened to use nuclear weapons. In recent months, according to The Wall Street Journal, US national security adviser Jake Sullivan has held several confidential talks with Russian officials to warn Moscow against using nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction.