Russia will make changes to its doctrine on the use of nuclear weapons in response to what it regards as Western escalation in the war in Ukraine, state media quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov as saying on Sunday.
The existing nuclear doctrine, set out in a decree by President Vladimir Putin in 2020, says Russia may use nuclear weapons in the event of a nuclear attack by an enemy or a conventional attack that threatens the existence of the state.
Some hawks among Russia’s military analysts have urged Putin to lower the threshold for nuclear use in order to “sober up” Russia’s enemies in the West.
Ehh. They’d make a beeline for every natural resource bearing region inside Russia’s borders. The whole south-western Russian region will turn into a clusterfuck free for all that I doubt they’d want to get involved with, but any mining and oil/gas centers east of the Urals will be priority one.
Empty land is not terribly useful for China right now, although large portions of siberia will likely become arable in the next 50 years. but the dragon is always hungry.