Russia Elevates Nuclear Threat: Implications for Ukraine and the Global Power Balance
President Vladimir Putin and Defense Minister Shoigu – Image courtesy of the President of Russia.
In what the Kremlin has labeled a warning to Western nations, Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced plans to lower the nuclear threshold, allowing for nuclear retaliation in response to large-scale air assaults and treating attacks by non-nuclear states, when supported by nuclear powers, as joint offensives.
Moscow aims to raise the stakes and discourage further support for Ukraine.
Meanwhile, both the Concept of the Foreign Policy of the Russian Federation and the Kremlin’s 2024 National Threat Assessment call for displacing the U.S. and the West as global leaders, with the fall of Ukraine viewed as a crucial step in reshaping the international order under Moscow and Beijing.
