Russia's "New" Global Strike Doctrine

Last week, there was a flurry of coverage on Russia's declaration that it would consider the option of pre-emptive nuclear strikes in its military doctrine. I am not sure that this is new doctrine in as much as it is a new review of existing policy, with the resulting decision being "yeah, this is what we want you imperialist aggressors to recognize."

While Moscow and Washington have made progress in strategic nuclear arms talks, Russia's security may come under threat from regional conflicts and local wars, Nikolai Patrushev, secretary of the Kremlin's powerful Security Council, said in an interview with Izvestia newspaper to be published on Wednesday.

Russia was revising its military doctrine to include new terms of use of its nuclear forces, he said, adding that President Dmitry Medvedev, who chairs the Security Council, would be presented with the new doctrine by the end of the year.

"Conditions of using nuclear weapons to repel an aggression with the use of conventional weapons not only in a large-scale but also in a regional and even local war have been revised," he said, without naming these conditions.

"Moreover, different variants are considered to allow the use of nuclear weapons depending on a certain situation and intentions of a would-be enemy. In conditions critical for national security one should not also exclude a preventive nuclear strike on the aggressor."

Russia's current doctrine says the "most important task is to be able to deter, including with the use of nuclear weapons, an aggression of any scale against Russia and its allies".

Really, this isn't too different than the US government's strategy. We abbreviate it by saying "reserve the right to retaliate, not necessarily in kind." I suppose the one difference is that the 2001 Nuclear Posture Review - and hopefully, the one being undertaken right now - tried to reduce the potential use of nuclear weapons by stating that conventional strikes with advanced precision munitions was an alternative to hitting sites previously targeted by nukes. One would hope that Russia might follow that logic. But in any regard, it's certainly interesting talk as the two superpowers negotiate the follow-on to the START treaty.

Comments

[Ray]

"...an aggression of Any scale against Russia and its allies".
However, defining Russia's allies is a bit difficult. Whether Russia would make them up as she goes along, in addition to formal treaty allies (and I haven't researched the latter).
Look up, Bright Star Sound:
"Soviet Lieutenant Colonel Stanislav Petrov averted a worldwide nuclear war in 1983, holding firm while alarms around him were indicating that his country was under attack, with U.S. missiles launched and heading toward Soviet territory. By declaring a false alarm, he prevented any possibility of a nuclear “retaliation” against the West by the Soviet Union."
Stanislav Petrov was interviewed by reporter Dennis Murphy on Dateline NBC (Nov. 12, 2000):

DENNIS MURPHY: “I know you don’t regard yourself as a hero, Colonel, but, belatedly, on behalf of the people in Washington, New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, thank you....”

STANISLAV PETROV: “Well, I accept the thanks with the condition that I am not the only person to thank.”

Bruce Blair, a Cold War nuclear strategies expert and nuclear disarmament advocate, at that time with the Center for Defense Information, then said, “The Russian character. They are modest. And though he won’t say it, I will. I think that he most definitely was a hero.”
I watched an interview with a senior KGB official, and he stated that Russia gave the order to commit in l983 because it was remembered clearly that America had already used nuclear weapons in war, and had overcome the psychological barriers normally inherent for survival.
Two statistics showing the differences of perception between Britain and the US;
All of Britain would be destroyed, as compared with 30 per cent of the United States.
My opinion is no one could gain anything from the aftermath in terms of still having a viable country.

[Mongo]

"One would hope that Russia might follow that logic."

The reason the Russians rely on their nukes is because they don't have the capability to hit long-range targets with precision munitions.