Research Summaries

Back Assessing the Implications of Changes in Russia’s Strategic Posture

Fiscal Year 2019
Division Research & Sponsored Programs
Department NPS Naval Research Program
Investigator(s) Yost, David S.
Tsypkin, Mikhail
Sponsor NPS Naval Research Program (Navy)
Summary This project will assess the implications of changes in Russia’s strategic posture for the policies and strategies of the Navy, the United States, and NATO. Evidence of changes in Russia’s strategic posture has been evident in the country’s exercises, force procurement, and policy statements. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s speech on 1 March 2018 is the most prominent of the recent Russian statements of policy. In this speech Putin announced Russia’s effort to develop new strategic systems, including a hypersonic aero-ballistic missile, a nuclear-powered cruise missile, the Sarmat heavy ICBM, and the “Status 6” torpedo. Putin and other Russian officials have asserted that Moscow is pursuing these capabilities and others (including conventional forces and cyber and space assets) in response to U.S. missile defenses and the policies articulated in the 2018 U.S. Nuclear Posture Review. To what extent do the seemingly novel developments in word and deed herald new thinking in Russian strategy and threaten the United States and its allies and security partners? What could be the implications for NATO and other U.S. alliance relationships? To what extent are the Russians genuinely motivated by their fear of U.S. and NATO missile defenses — the main justification announced by Putin for this set of new capabilities? To what extent do these highly limited Western missile defenses simply furnish a convenient pretext for Russia to take action? The research will involve examining the scholarly literature, discussing the issues with experts in the United States and Europe, and analyzing emerging issues. In other words, the method employed to study the primary and secondary sources and to compare these cases will be a qualitative historical analysis. The research deliverables will consist of a report and a PowerPoint briefing addressing the findings concerning the research objectives and questions.
Keywords
Publications Publications, theses (not shown) and data repositories will be added to the portal record when information is available in FAIRS and brought back to the portal
Data Publications, theses (not shown) and data repositories will be added to the portal record when information is available in FAIRS and brought back to the portal