Putin considers including ‘preemptive strike’ among Russia’s nuclear options

During a press briefing on the results of his visit to Kyrgyzstan, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that he is considering modifying the Russian nuclear doctrine, to include the possibility of a preemptive nuclear strike. His statement was published on the official Kremlin website.

Putin said that, compared with the U.S., Russia has “more modern and effective” cruise missiles, as well as hypersonic weapons that the U.S. does not yet have in principle. “This is why,” he said,

if we talk about this preemptive strike, maybe we should consider the recent work of our American partners and their ideas for ensuring their own security. We’re just thinking about it. No one seemed to be embarrassed when they talked about this aloud in the past.

Putin then said that the U.S. nuclear strategy permits the possibility of a preventive strike, while the Russian nuclear doctrine only speaks of a “retaliatory second strike.”

But if our potential opponent thinks it possible to rely on the preventive-strike theory, while we ourselves don’t, this should prompt us to think about the threats presented to us by those ideas in the defense sectors of other countries.

In this way, the Russian president suggested that even a preemptive nuclear strike by Russia would have its root cause in the U.S. nuclear policy.

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