Putin signs revised doctrine lowering threshold for nuclear response if Russia is attacked

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a revised nuclear doctrine stating that any attack on Russia supported by a country with nuclear power could potentially trigger a nuclear response.

The doctrine also states that Russia could respond to aggression against its ally Belarus with nuclear weapons, The Associated Press reported.

Though the doctrine doesn't specify that Russia will definitely respond to such attacks with nuclear weapons, it does mention the "uncertainty of scale, time and place of possible use of nuclear deterrent" as key principles of deterrence.