Does Putin’s New ‘Oreshnik’ Missile Transform Rules of Nuclear Warfare?

“Not at all,” he said. “They already have the capability to deliver nuclear weapons wherever they want. This particular missile is nuclear capable, so you can put a nuclear weapon on it. So, if it’s launched toward Western Europe, it is explicitly a nuclear threat. Because you don’t know what the warhead is until the thing lands and explodes.”

He regarded Putin’s signing of an updated nuclear doctrine similarly and described it as an “intimidation tactic.”

“The way that they updated the nuclear doctrine that was not too significant,” Erath said. “It was updated to be a little bit more threatening, but the spirit of the thing is very much the same. Again, we look at it in terms of the overall Russian strategy of persuading countries supporting Ukraine that it’s going to cost them more in every sense to continue to support Ukraine than it would to make a quick peace and get out.” Read more