Russian Nuclear Weapons: Past, Present, and Future

wars. However, given expressions of concern made
earlier in that document regarding the potential for
future conflicts to involve destabilizing command
and control, nuclear weapons sites, and other critical
government assets, the point at which a regional war
would place the existence of the state at risk, thereby
warranting a nuclear response, is ambiguous, at best.
Nuclear weapons will remain an important factor
for preventing the outbreak of nuclear military conflicts
and military conflicts involving the use of conventional
means of attack (a large-scale war or regional
war). In the event of the outbreak of a military conflict
involving the utilization of conventional means of attack
(a large-scale war or regional war) and imperiling
the very existence of the state, the possession of
nuclear weapons may lead to such a military conflict
developing into a nuclear military conflict. The NSS
and Military Doctrine put enormous pressure on the
Russian military to achieve across-the-board improvements
in organization, capabilities, operations, and
personnel. It is not clear that the military and its supporting
industrial base will be able to meet those challenges.
THE LIMITS OF RUSSIAN CONVENTIONAL
FORCE RESTRUCTURING
Russian leaders have long recognized the need
for comprehensive structural reforms of the military.
Since the early 1990s, several attempts at reform have
run afoul of a combination of institutional resistance,
a lack of funds, the decline of the Russian defense
industrial base, and recruitment and retention problems.
The NSS and Military Doctrine both emphasize
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