Russian Nuclear Strategy after the Cold War

Russian Nuclear Strategy after the Cold War

Speaker: Ven Bruusgaard, K. (Center for International Security and Cooperation [CISAC] at Stanford University)

Date: 17 April 2018

Speaker Session Preview

SMA hosted a speaker session presented by Ms. Kristin Ven Bruusgaard (Center for International Security and Cooperation [CISAC] at Stanford University) as a part of its SMA STRATCOM Academic Alliance Speaker Series. Ms. Ven Bruusgaard began the session by providing reasons why studying Russian nuclear strategy is important. She introduced the four iterations of Russian declaratory nuclear strategy since the end of the Cold War (occurring in 1993, 2000, 2010, and 2014), identifying their major features and changes across versions. Ms. Ven Bruusgaard then offered potential explanations for why Russian nuclear strategy changed throughout the years and argued that understanding the reasoning behind these changes is important. To conclude the session, Ms. Ven Bruusgaard reviewed her key findings after comparing Russian nuclear strategy documents from successive years and explained the national security implications of her findings.

Speaker Session Audio File

Download Ms. Ven Bruusgaard’s biography and slides