Russia Statement - Contains a WHOPPER of a Reminder

Dmitry Peskov, official Kremlin spokesman for the Russian Government, casually made a statement today - with a WHOPPER of a (ahem) "reminder" as the final point.

Peskov said:

-– The Kremlin calls on all sides to put pressure on Ukraine in order to hold a new round of talks with Russia.

— The Kremlin hopes that the Europeans will show signs of common sense in not delivering some of the weapons to Kiev; 

— Talks with Trump can be organized quickly, there are no plans yet;

— Deliveries of Western weapons to Kiev will continue, but some Europeans will pay for them;

— Europe is spending countless amounts of money to continue the war;

— Europeans are showing a furious militaristic attitude towards the Russian Federation;

— All provisions of the Russian nuclear doctrine, including the responsibility of nuclear countries for encouraging non-nuclear ones, are in force.

After Peskov's statement, I looked at the Revisions to Russian Nuclear Doctrine.

The policy changes previewed on Sept. 25 include an expansion of the conditions under which Russia would transition to the use of nuclear weapons. The June 2020 version of Russia’s nuclear doctrine stated that one of the “conditions specifying” the possible use of nuclear weapons is the “arrival of reliable data on a launch of ballistic missiles.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s Sept. 25 statement added that “aggression against Russia from any non-nuclear state but involving or supported by any nuclear state [would be treated] as their joint attack.” This closely mirrors the exception to Russia’s 1995 general negative security assurance issued to non-nuclear-weapon states.

The revised nuclear doctrine (December, 2024) includes language asserting that Russia “reserves the right” to use nuclear weapons not only in response to a nuclear attack, but also to respond to a conventional weapons attack that creates a “critical threat” to its “sovereignty and territorial integrity” or to that of Russia’s ally, Belarus.

The previous version of Russia’s nuclear weapons doctrine, issued in 2020, reserves the right to use nuclear weapons if an attack on Russia threatens “the very existence of the state.”