HANOI, June 20. /TASS/. Russia has no intentions to include a provision on the possibility of a preemptive nuclear strike into its nuclear doctrine, because a retaliatory strike will be enough to destroy the enemy, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.
"We don’t need a preemptive strike at this point, because a retaliatory strike is guaranteed to destroy the enemy," the Russian leader said, commenting on the possibility of amending the country’s nuclear doctrine.
Russia’s nuclear doctrine, formally known as Basic Principles of State Policy on Nuclear Deterrence, authorizes the use of nuclear weapons strictly under one of the following scenarios: arrival of reliable data on a launch of ballistic missiles attacking the territory of the Russian Federation and/or its allies; use of nuclear weapons or other types of weapons of mass destruction by an adversary against the Russian Federation and/or its allies; attack by adversary against critical governmental or military sites of the Russian Federation, disruption of which would undermine nuclear forces response actions; or aggression against the Russian Federation with the use of conventional weapons when the very existence of the state is in jeopardy.