Russian Nuclear Weapons: Past, Present, and Future

To begin with, the doctrine defines how these terms
are used: a military danger is “a state of interstate or
intrastate relations characterized by an aggregate of
factors that can, under certain conditions, lead to the
emergence of a military threat.” Whereas a military
threat is:
a state of interstate or intrastate relations, characterized
by the real possibility of the emergence of a military
conflict between opposing sides, a high degree of
readiness of some state (group of states) or separatist
(terrorist) organizations for the use of military forces
(violence with the use of weaponry). 52
In other words, in certain situations the former
may evolve into the latter more serious scenario.
Dangers and Threats.
These dangers are delineated into 11 points. Pole
position, as already noted, is given to NATO (in
the 2000 doctrine not specified, only referred to as a
“bloc”), especially the aim of assigning global functions
to the Alliance, both violating international law
and moving relentlessly towards Russia’s borders by
its expansion; attempts to destabilize individual states
or regions, or undermine strategic stability; deployment
or build-up of foreign troops on the territories
or waters of states contiguous with Russia and its allies;
creating and planning to deploy strategic missile
defense systems to undermine global stability and
nuclear parity, militarizing outer-space and the deployment
of strategic non-nuclear precision weapon
systems; territorial claims on Russia or its allies and
interference in their internal affairs; proliferation of
weapons of masss destruction (WMD), missiles, and
related technology, and the increase in nuclear weap-
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