Russian military doctrine calls a limited nuclear strike “de-escalation.” Here’s why.
Posted: 22nd September 2022
By Nikolai N. Sokov | March 8, 2022
The Russian Tupolev Tu-22M3M can deliver nuclear weapons by missiles or by gravity bombs. Image originally posted to Flickr by Dmitry Terekhov at: https://flickr.com/photos/44400809@N07/19230388334. Licensed under cc-by-sa-2.0.
Editor’s note: This article was originally published in 2014, as Russia was seizing Crimea. It is being published in updated form here because of its obvious relevance to the current Russian invasion of Ukraine, and to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s recent threats regarding the use of nuclear weapons.