Moscow says President Vladimir Putin’s recently announced changes to Russia’s nuclear doctrine are intended to send a warning to Ukraine’s Western allies, aiming to dissuade them from supporting attacks against the Russian Federation.

During a televised meeting of Russia’s Security Council on nuclear deterrence on Wednesday, the Russian leader outlined upcoming changes to the country’s nuclear doctrine that would significantly lower the threshold for the use of nuclear weapons.

Putin described the key elements of the revised document, which has been drafted but awaits the president’s approval, warning that Russia may use nuclear weapons in response to an attack with conventional arms.

He stressed that any nation’s conventional attack on Russia that is supported by a nuclear power will be considered a joint attack on his country.

At a press conference on Thursday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stressed that the revisions to the document “should be viewed as a certain message” to the West.

“This is a message that warns these countries of the consequences should they participate in an attack on our country by various means, not necessarily nuclear,” Peskov further told reporters.

Putin’s strong message was aimed at discouraging the West from allowing Ukraine to strike deep within Russia with Western-supplied longer-range weapons, he said.

According to a report by the TASS news agency, the doctrine, known formally as Basic Principles of State Policy on Nuclear Deterrence, in its revised version has a broader list of countries and military alliances that are subject to nuclear deterrence, with more entries in the list of military threats, whose neutralization requires nuclear deterrence.

The development came a month after Ukrainian forces carried out an unexpected incursion into Russia’s Kursk region.

Putin on Wednesday did not mention Ukraine by name, but stated that the updates to the doctrine were essential due to a rapidly evolving global environment that has posed new threats and risks for Russia.

Since the start of the current war between Russia and Ukraine in February 2022, Putin, in a warning to the West, has issued multiple implicit threats of nuclear attack.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said last week that the United States and Britain had not given authorization to Kiev to use Western-supplied long-range missiles on targets inside Russia.

It appears that a U-turn has taken place in the policies of Washington and London, as earlier reports indicated that they had secretly approved Ukraine’s use of long-range missiles against military targets within Russia.