By Richard Weitz Russia’s current Prime Minister and future President, Vladimir Putin, makes evident that the Russian government will not soon follow the Obama Administration towards nuclear disarmament. For example, on February 24, 2012, he told the media that Russia will not make any further unilateral or even bilateral cuts…
By Richard Weitz U.S. officials say it is too early to begin formal negotiations with Moscow on the next step in nuclear arms control. In the interim, they will concentrate on “doing their homework” on the complexities involved, both within the U.S. government, as a follow-on to the 2010 Nuclear…
By Richard Weitz For the last few years, the Russian government has made the unprecedented decision to purchase expensive Western military equipment. This has been done partly to fill gaps in Russian military capabilities and partly to use the threat of foreign competition to induce its military industrial complex to…
By Richard Weitz North Korea’s ballistic missile program has complicated the negotiations seeking to de-nuclearize the Korean Peninsula and achieve a comprehensive peace treaty for the Peninsula. Despite the recent failure, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) is slowly improving the number, range, and capabilities of its missiles. Its…
by Richard Weitz In their latest annual assessment of Russia’s nuclear forces, Hans Kristensen and Robert Norris estimate that the Russian Federation has more than 4,400 nuclear warheads. Of these, they calculate that some 2,430 warheads are assigned to various strategic delivery vehicles (1,490 on 434 ICBMs, and 950 are…
by Richard Weitz Perhaps the most original content in Vladimir Putin’s pre-election article on Russian defense policy is his comprehensive support for Russia’s controversial military reform program. Putin and other Russian leaders understand that, no matter how good the new weapons Russia is receiving, the Armed Forces need a newly…
By Richard Weitz In a year of significant elections worldwide (the US, Germany, France to name a few), the Russian election started the ball rolling. Not unexpectedly, Vladimir Putin won the election and we are waiting to learn what Putinism 2.0 in the new global context will look like. A…
by Richard Weitz Vladimir Putin, currently Russia’s prime minister and a candidate for the Russian presidency, set out his core foreign policy views in his latest pre-election newspaper article. Unlike most election manifestos, the content of this one seems to reflect Putin’s genuine views and the actual policies he will implement if elected.…
