Russian Nuclear Weapons: Past, Present, and Future

differences between the military doctrine in 2000 and
that being worked out:
There was no military doctrine in Soviet times, but
there was a powerful army. The organizational work
of the top was aimed at increasing the professional capabilities
of the armed forces. Now in the post-Soviet
period the Chief of the General Staff is motivated by
the assessments of the Americans on the highest state
of the Russian armed forces. Apparently he does not
realize that this is said to a great extent in order to increase
the Pentagon’s budget. And meanwhile the organizational
work of the highest military circle degenerates
into primitive paperwork, as if the paper itself
will solve the problems of the armed forces. 58
The die was largely cast then during 2007-08 and
there were intermittent rumors that the new doctrine
would be signed in the latter part of each year. The
question arises, why was it delayed? Some analysts
suggested that evaluating BMD, or the presidential
transition from Putin to Medvedev, or indeed waiting
to assess the outcome of the U.S. presidential election
may have played some part in shelving the doctrine.
However, the necessity for the new doctrine emerged
more sharply after the Russia-Georgia war in August
2008 and the launching of Serdyukov’s new look reforms
in October 2008. For instance, the inclusion in
the doctrine of the affirmation of the right to deploy
troops abroad “to defend the interests of the Russian
Federation and its citizens, and to protect international
peace and security,” directly follows Medvedev’s
December 2008 (Section III.26) change to the law on
defense permitting this type of intervention. 59
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