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Document No. 122: Soviet Explanation of the Warsaw Pact’s New Military Doctrine at the Chiefs of Staff Meeting in Moscow, May 18–25, 1987 ——————————————————————————————————————————— These two statements by Soviet marshals Sergei Sokolov and Sergei Akhromeev were intended to explain to their Warsaw Pact military colleagues the important impending shift in strategy by Gorbachev from offense to defense. The meetings they are addressing preceded by a few days the full PCC session at the end of May 1987, at which the new concept was adopted (see Document No. 123). While the two officers are constrained to follow the orders of their civilian leadership, Sokolov in particular betrays the military’s reluctance to accept unilateral reductions in armaments or give up the capability to “definitively crush” the enemy. ____________________ On May 18, 1987, the Minister of Defense of the USSR, Comrade Marshal of the USSR [Vasilii] Sokolov, invited the chiefs of staff of the Warsaw Treaty member -states to a presentation of the draft “Military Doctrine of the member-states of the Warsaw Treaty” that is due to be considered by the Political Consultative Committee. […] Even if every country has its own military doctrine, it is important at the present time to draw up a military doctrine for the Warsaw Treaty. It is especially important to decide on the doctrine’s political content, which will be binding for all member-states. For 20 years, NATO has declared its own military doctrine to be a defensive doctrine and accused the Warsaw Treaty of having an aggressive military doctrine. Although the Warsaw Treaty member-states have repeatedly stated their position on military issues, the military doctrine of the Warsaw Treaty has never been presented to the world community. However, it is important to explain to the whole world: – our relation to war and to the fight for peace, as well as – our view of the likely nature of an aggressor and our planned counter-measures in case of an attack. For this reason, it has been suggested that a unified military doctrine of the Warsaw Treaty be presented to the world community. […] The military doctrine of the Warsaw Treaty States is decidedly defensive in nature. We will never be the first to begin a war. […] Our defense doctrine requires that the army command and troops concentrate more than ever on defensive operations in their education and training. This is an extremely difficult task. 559 At the same time, it must be taken into consideration that the only way to definitively crush an aggressor is by executing decisive attacks. We must always be in a position to totally defeat the enemy. Our defense must be prepared and carried out in such a way as to ensure that we do not lose or forfeit any territory. Active defense must therefore begin at the border between NATO and the Warsaw Treaty. We cannot first lose 100 or 200 km of territory before beginning our counterattack. Rather, every foot of ground of the Socialist states must be doggedly defended. […] In every case we need to consider the real capabilities of the opponent. The measures we take to ensure military parity must preserve our capability to destroy the enemy in case of an attack. Our political efforts in this regard are aimed at maintaining a near balance of military force at an ever decreasing level. […] Under the present conditions, however, we must be prepared for nuclear war as well as a war with conventional weapons. France and Great Britain are not prepared at the present time to participate in a reduction of nuclear weapons. As long as these two states resist the reduction of their nuclear weapons, the Soviet Union cannot agree to a zero-solution in Europe, since this would give NATO a unilateral advantage. It must be clearly understood that it is a question of reducing – nuclear means of warfare, – not only missiles. That is a big difference. In general it can be observed that a widespread process of modernizing and introducing new fighting technology is underway in the NATO armies. For this reason, we cannot under any circumstances agree to unilateral reductions. […] Marshal of the USSR [Sergei] Akhromeev began by pointing out that the political challenges we are presently facing require the elaboration of a basic military doctrine of the Warsaw Treaty member-states, in order to ensure that member-states present themselves in a unified manner. Military doctrines are a system of principles and views on – the nature...

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