The Russian Response to the RMA: Military Strategy towards Modern Security Threats

Abstract

While the conceptual seeds of the so-called Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA) were actually planted in the 1970s in the Soviet Union — and known as the “Military Technological Revolution” or MTR1 — the Russian response to changes in (largely Western) military strategy have been mixed. This is because Russia has spent the past two decades seeking to balance the importance of stable strategic relations with the United States, NATO and increasingly China, while at the same time addressing myriad “unconventional” military problems along its extensive land borders, particularly in the Caucuses and Central Asia. The result has been a continuity in Russian military doctrine since 1987 and especially since 1993, which has sought to emphasize both the importance and modernization of its strategic forces — particularly nuclear weapons — for deterrence purposes, while at the same time deal with a number of conflicts and problems within its “sphere of influence.”