Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov said on Sunday that Moscow's revised nuclear weapons doctrine is needed because NATO infrastructure is approaching Russia's borders ever more closely. Peskov told Russian state television that Western powers are seeking victory over Russia through their arms deliveries to Ukraine.

The Times notes that Putin’s remarks signal that any “Western support for a conventional attack of Russia by Ukraine should be considered a joint attack and could, under certain circumstances, merit a nuclear response.” Given this context, the message from Putin to the U.S. with his public policy proposal seems to be pretty simple: Don’t try it.

President Vladimir Putin warned the West on Wednesday that Russia could use nuclear weapons if it was struck with conventional missiles, and that Moscow would consider any assault on it supported by a nuclear power to be a joint attack.