ABSTRACT
On 2 June 2020, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed and made public the Basic Principles of the State Policy of the Russian Federation on Nuclear Deterrence. Like any nuclear-weapons state, Russia no doubt has secret guidance for the operational employment of nuclear weapons. It defies belief that such a document would be publicly released. The State Policy purports to set out official Russian views on the tenets of nuclear deterrence, the military dangers and threats that nuclear deterrence is intended to neutralise, and conditions for the Russian Federation’s use of nuclear weapons. Strategic deterrence is an overarching concept for Russian security. It integrates non-military and military elements of national power, including conventional capabilities, non-strategic nuclear capabilities, and strategic nuclear capabilities for deterrence in peacetime and escalation control during a crisis or conflict, and for successful war termination. The State Policy focuses on Russia’s strategic nuclear forces and their primary mission of strategic nuclear deterrence.
