Russia's President Vladimir Putin. AFP
The move comes on the 1000th day of the Ukraine war and after the United States permitted Kyiv to use long-range missiles to strike military targets inside Russia.
The Kremlin said that broadening its rules for the use of nuclear weapons was a "necessary" response to what Moscow sees as Western threats to its security.
"It was necessary to bring our principles in line with the current situation," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters after the Russian President signed the decree.
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