Russia may need to expand and upgrade its nuclear arsenal, already the world’s largest, to counter the threat it faces from the West, a Russian diplomat said in an article published on Thursday.
“In the emerging realities, it is no longer possible to talk about strategic (nuclear) stability in its classical bilateral context,” Russian Ambassador-at-Large Grigory Mashkov told International Affairs, a Russian journal.
He said an arms race was underway and that there were now various countries developing missile technology.
Arms race?
“It is possible that in the current conditions of confrontation with the West with its open policy of inflicting strategic damage on Russia, we may face the question of moving away from limiting nuclear and missile arsenals in favor of their quantitative and qualitative increase,” Mashkov said.
His statements come after Moscow updated its nuclear doctrine to state that any perceived attack on the country aided by a country with nuclear power is considered to be a joint attack on Russia.
This update means that Russia could potentially strike a country, such as Ukraine, with nuclear warheads if it uses conventional Western missiles.
Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report.
This article was originally published at www.jpost.com
