SYDNEY, Feb. 6 (Xinhua) -- The founder of a Nobel Peace Prize-winning group strongly criticized Washington's new nuclear policy Monday, calling it "a blueprint for nuclear war."

Describing the U.S. 2018 Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) as a "chilling document", Tilman Ruff, founding chair of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), said, "This increases the danger of nuclear war... it clearly flags that great power confrontation with Russia is back on again. It essentially says, 'we're back in the cold war.'"

The comment was made to British newspaper The Guardian on board the Peace Boat, a ship belonging to the international nongovernmental organization of the same name working to promote peace.

The vessel docked at Sydney Harbor Monday as part of its "Making Waves" tour for peace, human rights and environmental protection.

The NPR, published by the U.S. Defense Ministry on Friday, emphasized the need to enhance U.S. nuclear capabilities, supposedly to preempt nuclear arms use by Russia.

"The goal of a world free of nuclear weapons has disappeared from that document. It's been described as a blueprint for nuclear war, and I don't think that's too extreme a characterization," Ruff said.

ICAN received the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize for its work to draw attention to the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any use of nuclear weapons.