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cailianshe news, september 26 (editor: xia junxiong)on wednesday (september 25th) local time, russian president vladimir putin revised the country's principles on the use of nuclear weapons, warning that if russia is attacked with conventional weapons, it may use nuclear weapons to retaliate.

according to the "basic principles of the russian federation's national policy of nuclear deterrence" launched by russia in 2020, russia may only use nuclear weapons in special circumstances when russia's national sovereignty or territory is threatened.

after the russia-ukraine conflict broke out in february 2022, as relations between russia and the west continued to deteriorate, hawkish figures in russia have repeatedly called for lowering the threshold for the use of nuclear weapons.

russia has the world's largest nuclear arsenal, while the united states has a similar number of nuclear weapons. the two countries' nuclear warheads together account for about 90% of the world's total.

putin chaired a standing meeting on nuclear deterrence within the framework of the russian federation security council on wednesday, which is held twice a year.

according to putin, the updated russian nuclear doctrine stipulates thataggression by a non-nuclear state against russia with the participation or support of a nuclear-weapon state would be seen as a joint attack by the two.

putin did not specify whether he would use nuclear weapons in response to such an attack, but he also stressed thatrussia could use nuclear weapons in response to a conventional attack that posed a serious threat to its sovereignty.this vague statement leaves a lot of room for interpretation.

putin also said that if russia obtains accurate information about the start of an aerospace attack on russia, it will be able to respond with nuclear weapons. in addition, when belarus, as a member of the russian-belarusian union, is invaded, russia reserves the right to use nuclear weapons.

putin stressed that the changes were well thought out and commensurate with the modern military threats facing russia.

russia's adjustment of its nuclear doctrine is clearly aimed at ukraine and western countries. since the beginning of this year, ukraine has been calling on western countries to relax restrictions on its use of western weapons as the situation in eastern ukraine has become increasingly unfavorable.

western countries have not allowed ukraine to use its aided weapons to attack targets deep inside russian territory, fearing an escalation of tensions. however, western countries have recently softened their stance.

earlier this month, us president biden said he was studying whether to "loosen" restrictions on the use of weapons in ukraine. putin warned that if western countries decide to lift the ban, it would mean that nato countries would directly participate in the russia-ukraine conflict.