Russia could reduce decision time for use of nuclear weapons: Lawmaker

MOSCOW, June 23: Russia, the worlds biggest nuclear power, could reduce the decision-making time stipulated in official policy for the use of nuclear weapons if Moscow believes that threats are increasing, parliaments defence committee chairman said.

The war in Ukraine has triggered the biggest confrontation between Russia and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, with President Vladimir Putin last month saying that Russia might change its official nuclear doctrine setting out the conditions under which such weapons could be used.

On Sunday Andrei Kartapolov, the head of the Russian lower house of parliaments defence committee, was quoted by state news agency RIA as saying that if threats increased then the decision-making time for using such weapons could be changed.    —REUTERS