What’s in Russia’s New Nuclear Deterrence ’Basic Principles’?

A new document sheds insight on old debates.

On June 2, the Russian government published a single document outlining its national perspective on nuclear deterrence. The short, six-page document — formally titled «Basic Principles of State Policy of the Russian Federation on Nuclear Deterrence» — was authorized for publication on June 2 in an executive order signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Washington, meanwhile, has alleged that Russian nuclear policy has dangerous designs that include possible plans to introduce nuclear weapons into an otherwise conventional conflict to seek deescalation on terms favorable to Moscow . The Trump administration’s 2018 Nuclear Posture Review made this case directly. Elsewhere, there’s some slightly more tendentious language that could be interpreted by American proponents of the existence of a Russian «escalate-to-deescalate» strategy as evidence of their thesis.

This article was written by Ankit Panda

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