Military

Just How Dangerous Is Russia's Military?

The Pentagon’s Defense Intelligence Agency has released a new assessment of Russian military power—reviving a Cold War-era practice. The agency concludes that the modern Russian military builds upon its Soviet heritage but has modernized its capabilities and doctrine for the present day.

“The Russian military has built on the military doctrine, structure, and capabilities of the former Soviet Union, and although still dependent on many of the older Soviet platforms, the Russians have modernized their military strategy, doctrine, and tactics to include use of asymmetric weapons like cyber and indirect action such as was observed in Ukraine,” the DIA report states.

In the years since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Russian military atrophied into a pale shadow of its once mighty Soviet forbearer. While the Soviet Union renounced the first use of nuclear weapons, the new Russia relied upon those weapons to offset its conventional weakness. However, Russia is trying to reduce its reliance on nuclear weapons as it rebuilds its conventional forces and adopts modern precision-guided munitions.