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Russian Federation Security Council
Moscow, Russia
2 November 1993

 
 

Russian Military Doctrine

 
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2. Political Bases of the Military Doctrine 

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2.1. The Russian Federation's Attitude to Armed Conflicts and the Utilization of the Russian Federation Armed Forces and Other Troops

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Ensuring the Russian Federation's military security and its vitally important interests depends first and foremost: 

  • in the domestic policy sphere on resolving economic, political, and social problems and successfully implementing reforms; 
  • in the foreign policy sphere on the state of relations with the surrounding world, primarily with our immediate neighbors and the leading powers. 
Proceeding from this premise, the Russian Federation: 
  • is committed to the principles of the peaceful settlement of international disputes, respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of states, noninterference in their internal affairs, inviolability of state borders and other universally recognized principles of international law; 
  • regards no state as its enemy; 
  • will not employ its Armed Forces or other troops against any state other than for individual or collective self-defense if an armed attack is made on the Russian Federation, its citizens, territory, Armed Forces, other troops, or its allies. 
  • cooperates in the efforts of the world community and various collective security organs in preventing wars and armed conflicts and maintaining or restoring peace; 
  • participates in the further development of international law and in the drafting, adoption, and implementation by all countries of a range of effective measures to prevent wars and armed conflicts. 
The aim of the Russian Federation's policy in the sphere of nuclear weapons is to eliminate the danger of nuclear war by deterring the launching of aggression against the Russian Federation and its allies. 

The Russian Federation: 

  • will not employ its nuclear weapons against any state-party to the Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons, dated I July 1968, which does not possess nuclear weapons except in the cases of: a) an armed attack against the Russian Federation, its territory, Armed Forces, other troops, or its allies by any state which is connected by an alliance agreement with a state that does possess nuclear weapons; b) joint actions by such a state with a state possessing nuclear weapons in the carrying out or in support of any invasion or armed attack upon the Russian Federation, its territory, Armed Forces, other troops, or its allies; 
  • actively advocates the cessation of nuclear weapons tests and promotes the establishment of dialogue on this question with the ultimate goal of achieving a comprehensive ban; 
  • seeks the reduction of nuclear forces to a minimal level which would guarantee the prevention of large-scale war and the maintenance of strategic stability and -- in the future -- the complete elimination of nuclear weapons; 
  • takes, jointly with other interested countries, the requisite measures to strengthen the regime governing the nonproliferation of nuclear weapons and render it universal in nature. 
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The Russian Federation ensures its military security by means of all the means at its disposal with priority accorded to political, diplomatic, and other peaceful means. In this context, the Russian Federation deems it necessary to possess Armed Forces and other troops and to employ them for the following purposes: 

  • protection of the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and other vitally important interests of the Russian Federation in the event of aggression launched against it or its allies; 
  • the conduct of peace-keeping operations by decision of the UN Security Council or in accordance with the Russian Federation's international commitments; 
  • the termination of armed conflicts and any unlawful armed violence on the state border or the border of another state in accordance with treaty commitments, or within the bounds of the territory of the Russian Federation that threaten its vitally important interests. 
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The basic existing and potential sources of external military danger for the Russian Federation are: 

  • the territorial claims of other states on the Russian Federation and its allies; 
  • existing and potential local wars and armed conflicts, particularly those in the immediate vicinity of the Russian borders; 
  • the possibility of the use (including the unsanctioned use) of nuclear and other types of weapons of mass destruction which a number of states have in service; 
  • the proliferation of nuclear and other types of weapons of mass destruction, their delivery systems, and the latest military production techniques in conjunction with the attempts by certain countries, organizations, and terrorist groups to realize their military and political aspirations; 
  • the possibility of strategic stability being undermined as a result of the violation of international accords in the sphere of arms limitation and reduction and of the qualitative and quantitative buildup of armaments by other countries; 
  • attempts to interfere in the internal affairs of and destabilize the internal political situation in the Russian Federation; 
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The document then goes on to identify factors which help transform a military danger into an immediate military threat to the Russian Federation: 

  • the buildup of groupings of troops (forces) on the borders of the Russian Federation to the point where they disrupt the prevailing correlation of forces; 
  • attacks on facilities and installations on the state border of the Russian Federation and on the borders of its allies and the launching of border conflicts and armed provocations; 
  • the training of armed formations and groups on the territory of other states which are intended to be transferred to the territory of the Russian Federation and its allies; 
  • the actions of other countries which hinder the functioning of Russian systems for the support of the strategic nuclear forces and of state and military command and control of, above all, their space component; 
  • the introduction of foreign troops in the territory of neighboring states of the Russian Federation (if this is not connected with measures to restore or maintain peace in accordance with a decision of the UN Security Council or a regional organ of collective security with the agreement of the Russian Federation). 
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