The Kremlin has called for a cool-headed approach to the potential use of nuclear weapons that’s based on Russia’s established military doctrine rather than “emotions” after Putin ally Ramzan Kadyrov, head of Russia’s region of Chechnya, said on Saturday that Moscow should use a tactical nuke in Ukraine after Russian forces suffered a battlefield defeat.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Monday that the basis for using nuclear weapons has been laid down in Russia’s official military doctrine and that decisions around using a nuclear bomb would not be made on impulse.
Russia’s nuclear use guidelines allow for the use of such weapons if they—or other weapons of mass destruction—are used against Russia, or if the Russian state faces an existential threat from conventional weapons….