CHANGES to the Russian nuclear doctrine are intended to discourage Ukraine’s Western allies from supporting attacks on Russia, the Kremlin said today.

Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that the revisions of the document, announced by President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, were a “warning signal to those countries about the consequences in case of their involvement in an attack on our country with various assets, not necessarily nuclear ones.”

Mr Putin had told a televised security council meeting that an attack on his country by a non-nuclear power with the “participation or support of a nuclear power” would be seen as a “joint attack on the Russian Federation.”

He emphasised that the revised doctrine spelled out conditions for using nuclear weapons in greater detail, noting that they could be used in the case of a massive air attack.

He said Russia would make decisions on the use of nuclear weapons “when we receive reliable information about a massive launch of air and space attack assets crossing our state border.”

The previous doctrine said Moscow could use its nuclear arsenal “in response to the use of nuclear and other types of weapons of mass destruction against it and/or its allies, as well as in the event of aggression against the Russian Federation with the use of conventional weapons when the very existence of the state is in jeopardy.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has vowed to use his latest trip to Washington to seek permission from his allies in the United States and Europe to strike deep into Russian territory with longer-range weapons.

US President Joe Biden’s administration says it has not given Kiev permission for such strikes, although Russian authorities claim that a decision to allow them has already been taken.

During Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s recent visit to Washington, he was reportedly refused permission to allow Britain’s weapons to be used for that purpose.