MOSCOW, December 30. /TASS/. Russian government’s official newspaper, Rossiyskaya Gazeta, has published an updated version of the Military Doctrine that was enacted by President Vladimir Putin’s decree last week.
It gives answers to three main questions, namely, what threats to Russia’s security exist today, where these threats come from and how the government will react to them.
The essence of the military doctrine has not changed and it remains oriented at defence. Unlike the U.S. that showcases its preparedness to deliver a global strike in any part of the planet, Russia admits of the use of military force only in exceptional situations when peaceful means for resolution of conflicts have been exhausted.
The doctrine spells out combat employment of nuclear weapons only as a response to aggression against Russia or its allies.
Along with it, the new version of the doctrine speaks for the first time ever about nonnuclear containment of military threats. This task is delegated to the general-purpose forces, or to the branches and services of the Armed Forces that are not part of Russia’s nuclear triad.
The maintenance of high combat readiness of these forces and the supplies of top-notch weaponry and nonlethal equipment to their combat units are named as a top priority for the state.
The prospective items of weaponry to be delivered to the Ground Troops include the Armata tanks, the newspaper says in a commentary to the doctrine. The Airborne Troops will get BMD-4M airborne combat vehicles, and the Air Defense and Space Troops, the S-400 and S-500 antiaircraft complexes.
The Air Force is bound get G5 fighter jets T-50 and the Navy, the frigates of Project 11366 and other highly modernized ships.
Also for the first time in history, the doctrine names the assuring of Russia’s national interests in the Arctic as a task for the Armed Forces. For this purpose, Strategic Command ‘Sever’ /North/ has been created on the basis of the North Fleet units in the Arctic zone.
Apart from the naval ships, the new strategic command also has ground troops units, aviation and a ramified air defence system at its disposal. In essence, the fact means that Russia now has one more - fifth - military district.
One more task formulated in the document is counteraction to the striving of other countries to attain military superiority through the deployment of strategic antimissile missile defence, deployment of armaments in space, and the unfolding of nonnuclear systems of high-precision weapons.
Although the doctrine says that the probability of a sweeping war against Russia has decreased, it mentions a buildup of NATO military infrastructure along the Russian borders and deployment of the antiballistic missile systems in Europe among the current threats.
On the face of it, the document does not rule out the setting up of joint antimissile system with other countries on the condition that Russia should take part in such projects as an equal partner.
The doctrine says Russia will counteract the new threats together with the member-states of the CIS Collective Security Treaty Organization, BRICS, and two young South Caucasian nations - Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
The document mentions the importance of keeping up an equitable dialogue with the European Union and NATO.