Russia’s Nuclear Deterrence in the International Disorder and the Post-2014 Context
Whereas the relations between Russia and the us have critically deteriorated since the Ukrainian crisis, the Moscow-Washington strategic dialogue on arms control has been stalling as never seen before. Multiplying “nuclear signaling”, Russia has furthermore raised the stakes when President Vladimir Putin displayed highly sophisticated and hypersonic weapons in his March 2018 speech, rising the fear that Russia’s nuclear threshold has been lowered. Through the examination of Russian official documents, by analyzing the recent critical progress achieved by Russian conventional forces and by taking into consideration the latest outcomes of the strategic debate regarding Russia’s nuclear deterrence, this paper aims at mitigating the widely spread idea that Moscow is today more ready than ever to use its nuclear capabilities. Moreover, the Kremlin remains fundamentally interested in maintaining an international legal framework for arms control to which the Russian-American New Start treaty contributes.