From Reykjavik to Twitter: A Toolkit for Avoiding Instability in U.S.-Russia Relations

As the Soviet Union was collapsing, an American research team visited Moscow to interview military leaders as part of a study for the U.S. Department of Defense Office of Net Assessment. One of the interview subjects was Marshal Sergei Akhromeev, Chief of the General Staff and Personal Advisor to Gorbachev, who provided insights into Soviet nuclear planningthis included clarification on issues that were previously misinterpreted by U.S. military planners, such as, “At no time did the USSR ever intend to make first use of nuclear weapons.” In addition, Akhromeev commented on a specific tool for reducing the tensions and risks that defined U.S.-Soviet dynamics for most of the Cold War: initially, he was “very distrustful of U.S. intentions until he had the opportunity actually to meet his American counterparts on the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff in 1988.... The mutual understanding that came from face-to-face discussions helped to create a fairly stable situation in Europe.”