CSTO Strategy Permits Nuclear Weapons to Protect Allied States

CSTO Strategy Allows Nuclear Defense of Allied States

23:59 03-08-2026

CSTO representative Viktor Vasilyev says the bloc’s security strategy allows nuclear weapons to defend allies amid growing global nuclear risks and tensions.

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Viktor Vasilyev, Russia’s permanent representative to the Collective Security Treaty Organization, said the bloc’s collective security strategy allows for the use of weapons of mass destruction if required to defend allied states.

According to Vasilyev, documents adopted to implement the strategy, along with Russia’s military doctrine, provide for the possible use of nuclear weapons, including in response to an attack on an ally.

He added that CSTO documents list the growing number of states with military nuclear capabilities among the main security threats. They also identify the continued spread of weapons of mass destruction and their delivery systems as a serious risk.

In early March, French President Emmanuel Macron announced that Paris was moving toward a strengthened nuclear deterrence policy. The new doctrine includes an increase in the number of warheads and allows allied countries to take part in joint exercises.

On August 1, the German newspaper Junge Welt reported that NATO was considering deploying additional US nuclear warheads in Europe. The outlet said such a move would inevitably prompt countermeasures from Moscow.