Tactical Nuclear Weapons and NATO.pdf - Program on Strategic ...

On April 23, 1999, Viktor Nikolaevich Mikhailov,
First Deputy Minister for <strong>Nuclear</strong> Energy <strong>and</strong> Chair
of the Scientific Council of the Ministry of Atomic Energy,
published an article on prospects for the technological
development of nuclear weapons, which
surveyed existing programs in the United States <strong>and</strong>
called upon the Russian government to invest in the
renewal of Russia’s nuclear infrastructure. Given the
ban on test-firing nuclear weapons, Russia had to invest
in the technology that would permit the computer
simulation of such tests of new weapons. Mikhailov
concluded: “The plans of Russian arms makers are
clear <strong>and</strong> well-founded. Now it is necessary to bring
about their realization. History will not forgive us if
we do not act.” 23
Sixth Generation Warfare <strong>and</strong> De-Escalation.
On April 29, 1999, during the <strong>NATO</strong> bombing
campaign against Yugoslavia, the Russian Security
Council, under the Chairmanship of President Boris
Yeltsin <strong>and</strong> with its Secretary Vladimir Putin in attendance,
reviewed the current status <strong>and</strong> perspectives
for future development of the nuclear weapons complex
to 2010. Two sealed decrees were issued regarding
the concept for the development <strong>and</strong> employment
of NSNWs. 24 Yeltsin asserted that the renewal of all
the links in the Russian nuclear weapons complex
was a top priority of the military, scientific elite, political
leadership, <strong>and</strong> defense industry. It was Putin
who, after the session, spoke of the two degrees <strong>and</strong>
the adoption of a program, which “authorized the
conception of the development <strong>and</strong> utilization of nonstrategic
nuclear weapons” as part of the policy of nuclear
deterrence. 25 Media sources began to speculate
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