• Tensions between Russia and the West are at their highest since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, primarily due to the war in Ukraine and Russia’s claim of fighting a proxy war with the West.
• Russian officials, including Andrei Kartapolov, suggest that the country’s nuclear doctrine might be adjusted to shorten decision-making time for using nuclear weapons if perceived threats increase.
• Both Russia and the U.S. are modernizing their nuclear arsenals, leading to fears of a new arms race, despite past significant cuts in nuclear weapons.

Tensions between Russia and the West have not been this high since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis and the largest contributor to this strain is the war in Ukraine. Not to mention, the Kremlin is persistently claiming it is fighting a proxy war with the West. If Moscow believes that threats are increasing, parliament could change Russia’s nuclear doctrine to shorten decision time for nuclear weapon use.

On Sunday Andrei Kartapolov, the head of the Russian lower house of parliament’s defense committee, was quoted by state news agency RIA as saying that if threats increased then the decision-making time for using such weapons could be changed.

“If we see that the challenges and threats increase, it means that we can correct something in (the doctrine) regarding the timing of the use of nuclear weapons and the decision to make this use,” RIA quoted Kartapolov as saying.

Russia’s 2020 nuclear doctrine sets out when its president would consider using a nuclear weapon: broadly as a response to an attack using nuclear or other weapons of mass destruction or conventional weapons “when the very existence of the state is put under threat”.

Mr Putin said last week that Russia was thinking about changing its doctrine because its potential enemies were working on “new elements” around lowering the threshold for nuclear use.

“In particular, explosive nuclear devices of extremely low power are being developed. And we know that there are ideas floating around in expert circles in the West that such means of destruction could be used,” he claimed.

The U.S. 2022 Nuclear Posture Review says that Russia and China are both developing their nuclear arsenals so that by the 2030s “the United States will, for the first time in its history, face two major nuclear powers as strategic competitors and potential adversaries.” According to the Federation of American Scientists, the United States and Russia contain 88% of the world’s nuclear power. It’s no wonder the US exchanges side-eye with them when it comes to nuclear energy.

Both Moscow and Washington made significant cuts to the number of their weapons as the Soviet Union crumbled, but the Cold War arms control architecture has crumbled and many diplomats say they now fear a new arms race.

Russia says it is interested in discussing arms control with the United States, but only as part of a broader discussion involving European security and the future of Ukraine.