The ABM Treaty: The End of One Saga and the Start of Another
The November 2001 summit between Presidents George W. Bush and Vladimir Putin marked the end of the lengthy saga of the ABM Treaty. After years of intense conflict, the situation…
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Sokov
32 posts
Russia’s Policy in the Former Soviet Union and the New Challenges to the United States Eurasia Policy
With Vladimir Putin’s presidential inauguration in May 2000, Russian policy toward the newly independent states of the former Soviet Union began to change. By the end of 2001 these changes…
Instability in South Caucasus and the War against Terrorism
A crisis between Georgia and Russia on April 12–13, 2002, had several new, troubling features, suggesting that war between Georgia and the breakaway region of Abkhazia or, even worse, an armed conflict…
‘Kosovo Syndrome’ and the Great Nuclear Debate of 2000
In the summer of 2000, a long-simmering conflict within the Russian Ministry of Defense (MOD) burst into the open in a series of leaks to the media that culminated in…
The Myths About Unilateral Nuclear Arms Reduction
The idea that unilateral reduction of nuclear arms is preferable to the traditional but slower process of negotiated formal arms control treaties that dominated US Soviet/Russian relations for three decades…
Foreign Policy Under Putin: Pro-Western Pragmatism Might Be a Greater Challenge to the West
As Russia prepares for early presidential elections, the foreign policy strategy of the most likely winner–acting President Vladimir Putin–is the subject of much speculation. Will he be pro- or anti-Western?…
The Reality and Myths of Nuclear Regionalism in Russia
In 1998, retired General Aleksandr Lebed, governor of Krasnoyarsk krai, declared that he would assume control of a Strategic Rocket Forces division deployed on the territory of his region unless…
The IMF-Russian Negotiations and Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons
The continuing standoff between the Russian government and the IMF threatens the nuclear non-proliferation regime. Dialogue with the Russian government, the Cooperative Threat Reduction program (also known as Nunn-Lugar), sanctions…
Russia’s Relations with NATO: Lessons from the History of the Entente Cordiale
As NATO contemplates the second wave of enlargement, many wonder what the Russian response might be. The experience of 1996-98 might suggest an optimistic scenario: the first wave was met…
Nuclear Weapons and Russia’s Economic Crisis
The recent announcement by vice-premier Yuri Masliukov that Russia would produce 30-40 Topol-M (SS-27) single-warhead ICBMs annually put the finishing touches on Russia's defense policy under the conditions of economic…