Basic Principles of the State Policy of the Russian Federation on Nuclear Deterrence: A Critical Assessment

The speaker will provide a critical assessment of the State Policy on Nuclear Deterrence made public by the Kremlin on 2 June 2020. With the aim of identifying elements of change or continuity, he will assess the State Policy on Nuclear Deterrence in the context of existing Russian strategic guidance documents and related statements by Russian officials and authoritative military experts; Russia's nuclear capabilities, force structure and posture; and the nuclear dimension of Russian exercises and operations. The speaker will suggest that the Russian Federation State Policy on Nuclear Deterrence is more relevant as an information confrontation tool for external messaging purposes than as doctrinal or programmatic guidance for Russia's nuclear deterrence enterprise.

Dave Johnson is a staff officer in the NATO International Staff Defence Policy and Planning Division, which he joined in 2005. In addition to his current work on aspects of NATO's defence policy, he has worked in the NATO-Russia Council on defense transparency, risk reduction, and NATO-Russia missile defense cooperation. He has also worked on security sector reform and capacity building in Georgia and Ukraine. Among his assignments as an officer in the United States Air Force, he served at the Air Staff as a Soviet and Russia-Eurasia politico military analyst; in the Office of the U.S. Defense Attaché, U.S. Embassy, Moscow, as an assistant air attaché; at U.S. Strategic Command as division chief responsible for strategic warning and as division chief responsible for monitoring and assessment of Russian, Chinese, and rest of world missile and WMD threats; and at Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) and Allied Command Transformation (ACT) as Force Planning Manager. He holds a B.A. in Russian and East European Studies from the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana and an M.A. in National Security Affairs from the Naval Postgraduate School. He is a graduate of the resident programs of the USAF Squadron Offi cer School, Air Command and Staff College, Armed Forces Staff College, and of the non-resident program of the Air War College.