The New Face of Russia's Nuclear Deterrence

Despite economic entanglements and numerous international disputes, Russia has not abandoned its goal of creating a strategic deterrence against the United States over the past decade. As the result of its efforts, Russia today has access to ultra-supersonic advanced strategic weapons and projectiles that distinguish it from other nuclear powers worldwide. The objectives pursued by this paper are to examine the dimensions and characteristics of Russia's new nuclear deterrence strategy, the reasons for adopted this strategy and its consequences for Russia's relations with Europe and the United States. Accordingly, the present paper seeks to provide appropriate answers for the following questions: "What is the most prominent feature of Russia's new nuclear deterrence strategy?” and “What are its implications for the troika of Russia-EU-US relations?" The author argues that "The ability to pose a direct threat to the United States, rather than a proxy threat to Europe, is the most prominent feature of Russia's new nuclear deterrence strategy that may lead to the proximity of Russia to the European Union and deepening the rift on both sides of the Atlantic. A qualitative method and descriptive-explanatory methodology is employed in this paper and its theoretical foundation is laid on the deterrence (nuclear) theory.