Russia May Review Its Nuclaer Doctrine: How Scary Is This?

Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov recently said that "further clarifications" would probably be made to the Russian nuclear doctrine to reflect the experience from the Ukrainian conflict “when the classic old interpretation of nuclear deterrence did not work properly.”

Russia is ready to do everything to ensure its security, and “Western provocateurs” must understand this, Ryabkov added, noting that everything must be done to prevent a slide into the use of nuclear weapons.

These considerations come amidst domestic debates in the policy-making community over what other means should be considered to deter the Americans and their allies. For instance, Sergey Karaganov, Honorary Chairman of the Presidium of Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, in his latest interview for @ruglobalaffairs argued:

We will continue to strike at the Ukrainian army, because it is basically a mercenary army, but our main goal is to sober up the West and make it retreat strategically. The best way to do that is to give the West, at least the Americans, a chance to retreat without losing face. Otherwise, they will have to flee in shame or/and suffer huge losses."

For the moment this is rather Russia's signaling coupled with mild vertical escalation. But there's a growing readiness to go further.