Earlier, the Secretary of the Russian Security Council, Nikolay Patrushev, announced that Moscow will consider the nuclear weapons as a possible option in more situations than it used to. A pre-emptive nuclear strike with nuclear weapons will be a possible scenario, for example.

The number of military threats listed in the document has also been enlarged, according to the 17-page draft document. Those will include other nation’s ignoring of Russia’s strategic security interests, attempts to tip the balance of power in the neighborhood of Russia and her allies, and moves to change the balance in “nuclear and missile sphere”, like deployment of an anti-ballistic missile system.

[efoods]Also on the threats list is interference with Russia’s internal policies, territorial disputes, arms race and undermining of international measures on arms limitation and reduction, possible deployment of weapons in space, and military conflicts near Russian borders.

At the same time, the doctrine is to state that risk of a large-scale armed conflict involving Russia has decreased over the past decades.

Mikhail Troitsky from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations says he wouldn’t describe the new doctrine as aggressive.

“Elaborating strategies of using nuclear weapons is very much a political process. It actually intended to send political signals to both Russia’s counterparts and potential foes,” he said.