Russia could modify its military doctrine by introducing the possibility of a preemptive strike to disarm an enemy, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday.
He was responding to a question from a journalist during a visit to Bishkek, who asked him to clarify his statement earlier this week on the use of nuclear weapons.
Speaking to the press days after warning that the risk of nuclear war was growing but that Russia would not strike first, Mr Putin said Moscow was considering adopting what he called the Washington concept of a preemptive strike.
“First, the United States developed the concept of a preemptive strike. Second, they are developing a strike system aimed at disarming” (the enemy), President Putin told reporters following his visit to Kyrgyzstan.
He added that perhaps Moscow should think about adopting the “ideas developed by the Americans to ensure their own security”. “We’re just thinking about it,” he said, however.
The Russian president also claimed that his country’s cruise missiles and hypersonic systems were “more modern and even more efficient” than those of the United States.
On Wednesday, Mr Putin assured that Moscow would not be the first to deploy atomic weapons.
“Russia wouldn’t use them first under any circumstances,” he said, adding: “But if it doesn’t use them first under any circumstances, it won’t be the second to use them either. because the chances of using them in the event of a nuclear strike against our territory are very slim”.
The US State Department condemned these statements, saying that “any discussion, however vague, of nuclear weapons is absolutely irresponsible. »
The specter of a possible nuclear war returned to the forefront of the international scene after the invasion of Ukraine in February, underscoring the erosion of the global security architecture dating from the Cold War.
Russian military setbacks in recent months have raised fears that Moscow is planning to reverse the trend by resorting to its nuclear arsenal.