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Nikolai N. Sokov

Nikolai N. Sokov, a senior fellow at the Vienna Center for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation, previously worked at the Soviet and Russian Ministry for Foreign Affairs and participated in the START I and START II negotiations. He is the author of Russian Strategic Modernization: Past and Future, and he co-wrote and co-edited the first Russian-language college-level textbook on nuclear nonproliferation, Yadernoe Nerasprostranenie.


Articles by Nikolai N. Sokov

A damaged statue of the founder of the Soviet Union, Vladimir Lenin, in the Ukrainian-controlled Russian town of Sudzha, Kursk region, on August 16. (Photo by Yan DOBRONOSOV/AFP via Getty Images)

The Battle of Kursk probably won’t result in nuclear weapons use against Ukraine. But Russian escalation vis-à-vis NATO can’t be ruled out.

By Nikolai N. Sokov | Nuclear Risk, Nuclear Weapons

Russia is deploying nuclear weapons in Belarus. NATO shouldn’t take the bait

By Nikolai N. Sokov | Nuclear Weapons

Russia-Belarus nuclear sharing would mirror NATO’s—and worsen Europe’s security

By Nikolai N. Sokov | Nuclear Weapons
The Russian Tupolev Tu-22M3M can deliver nuclear weapons by missiles or by gravity bombs. Image originally posted to Flickr by Dmitry Terekhov at: https://flickr.com/photos/44400809@N07/19230388334. Licensed under cc-by-sa-2.0.

Russian military doctrine calls a limited nuclear strike “de-escalation.” Here’s why.

By Nikolai N. Sokov | Nuclear Risk, Nuclear Weapons

Why Russia calls a limited nuclear strike “de-escalation”

By Nikolai N. Sokov | Explain This, Nuclear Weapons