"The US bases its policy on a large-scale buildup of nuclear weapons with references to Russia's modernization of nuclear forces and the alleged increase in the role of nuclear weapons in Russian doctrinal installations. We are accused of lowering the threshold for the use of nuclear weapons and in some "aggressive strategies," the statement says..

These statements have nothing to do with the real state of affairs. The Russian military doctrine limits the possibility of using nuclear weapons in two scenarios:.

in response to aggression using weapons of mass destruction or using conventional weapons, when the very existence of Russia as a state would be threatened.

Washington's declared readiness to resort to nuclear weapons in order to prevent Russia from using its nuclear weapons, means, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry, "an attempt to question our right to self-defense when parrying aggression in critical situations for the state's existence". Pentagon on February 2 unveiled updated US nuclear doctrine. The document says that Washington extends its obligations to ensure deterrence from the use of nuclear weapons by more than 30 states and does not exclude the possibility of using atomic weapons in the event of an attack on the US using conventional weapons.