PRESENT AT ION at the U S National Defense University by the USSR Minister of Defense General of the Army Dm T Yazov October 3rd 1989 Gentlemen Yoursis not an old university it is not yet 15 years old But as we have been briefed it is a firmly established school And what is more it is a leading authority among a whole group of the U S military research installations That is why I feel extremely privileged to address this distinguished audience _ ir When I was preparing this presentation occured to me that just an ide my appearance here would have been seditious only a few years ago I guess you understand it perfectly well Could you have imagined just five or six years ago that · the Soviet Minister of Defense would soon be making a speech at the leading center of American military thought For the first time in the history of Soviet-American relations that numbers decades of years the Soviet Minister of Defense has stepped on the American soil This very fact became a reality following the radical changes for the better that began to develop in the world politics The substance of those changes is contained in the efforts to overcome the atmosphere of alienation among nations which was engendered by confrontation and dogmas of power politics as well as in the sustained work to replace the sentiments of hatred and suspicion with the feelings of trust to oust confrontation and'· intro'duce diaiog • And this meeting h-ere is an essential element of the dialog between us be it a small one Thousands of miles separate the U S and the USSR We are also separated by the differences in our · government - - -- - - - - 2 - structures ideologies and histories However there are things more powerful than any differences Among those things I would point out responsibility - responsibility for the future of your country for the future of the world Today in the nuclear and space age this is by no means just rhetoric The question to be or not to be referred to the human civilization and the very life on Earth hinges entirely on what the future brings us war or no war That is why I decided to cover the questions of the current Soviet military doctrine in my presentation The nucleus of our military doctrine reflecting the lofty objective of the USSR armed forces and determining the system of their development and training is to prevent war I The current Soviet military doctrine - is an integrated total of the compreh nsive and profound analysis of the present stage of world development which has brought to the foreground many bu ming problems one of them being the problem of human survival of liberating the mankind from nuclear power that steadily kept pushing the civilization towards nuclear death The nature of the modern weapon systems is so awesome that it leaves no chance to any state of defending itself with military and technical means alone No defense however powerful it may be can securely protect any nation The world has become a nuclear hostage whose prospects for liberation keep diminishing like shagreen leather in the course of the arms race The engine of the arms race is powered by the desire for military superiority that we inherited from the stone age with its stereotypes of power politics In the nuclear age this desire has become irrational since it is impossible to be victorious either in the arms race or in nuclear war - - -- - - - - - 3 - itself Proceeding from this self-evident tenet the leaders of the USSR and U S in Geneva in November 1985 stated the following there can be no winners in nuclear war It was also stated t hat neither the USSR nor the u s sought to gain nuclear superiority I decided to remind you of it to just introduce to you a system of reference points that provided the framework for the current Soviet military doctrine These reference points were laid out by M S Gorbachev at the U N General Assembly session in New York at the end of last year in a more concentrated fashion I will just mention the most essential ones - demilitarization it implies complete renunciation of force power politics arms race it includes realistic disarmament - democratization it implies recognition of the right of any nation to take part in discussing and solving all international issues on an equitable basis - deideologization it implies renunciation of the activities to transfer ideological differences to the sphere of international relations which must be built up exclusively on the principles of international law Proceeding from the unconditional priority of the universal human values the USSR drew up and made effective the new defensive military doctrine in 1987 According to this doctrine defensive operations of different scope became to be domineering in our system of training both in theory and in practice while the force structure composition and training started to be fashioned in order to meet the principle of reasonable and reliable sufficiency for defense Speaking before this audience I guess it would be correct to give the definition of the Soviet military doctrine It is a system of officially adopted basic views on how to prevent war proceed with military development prepare the country and Armed Forces to repulse an aggression and what methods of armed struggle to use in order to defend the - 4 - socialist Motherland The Soviet military doctrine is tightly linked with the military doctrine of the Warsaw Treaty member-states OUr doctrine is baaed on the USSR•s foreign policy whose main aim is to provide the opportunity for the Soviet people to carry out the tasks of socialist development in the conditions of durable and lasting peace The military doctrine lays out the guidelines for organizing defense of the USSR as a whole and of its Western Eastern Southern and Northern parts The doctrine provides for performing defensive tasks in Europe through joint efforts of the Warsaw Treaty member states The activities of our alliance as it was stated in Berlin in May 1987 are based on the military doctrine that reflects the community of defensive militarypolitical objectives of its member-states and their national military doctrines II visit to Britain I heard an instructive saying The proof of the pudding is in the eating I guess you know the saying The meaning of the saying is clear everything should get a practical test It is actually true It is the practice that serves as the only criterion for the truth As applied to the military doctrine of any state this feature shows in the integrity of its structure in the uniformity of its two component part - political and militarytechnical The first political aspect of our doctrine covers the questions of preventing war and should it become impossible to prevent war this aspect covers the questions of political objectives and nature of warfare as well' as economic social and legal ground rules of conducting warfare The second military-technical aspect covers the questions of defense construction technical equipment of the Armed Forces their training determining forms and methods of operations and warfare as a whole On my - 5 - Dialectics of the two aspects of our doctrine lies in the priority of the first aspect that is generally more stable and subordination of the second that is more liable to change Evidently the military technical aspect has a measure of influence on the political one Upsetting this dialectical relationship or ignoring it leads to contradictions between the two aspects of the doctrine or to phrase it differently to a certain discrepancy between theory and practice This is what actually happened to our doctrine at one point The matter is that in terms of political objectives it has alway-a been defensive it proclaimed renunciation of military inv asion against any nation With the advent of nuclear weapons it rejected the first use of nuclear weapons At the same time its military-technical aspect stipulated that once a war is unleashed against the USSR or its allies defeat of the aggressor would primarily be secured through resolute offensive operations It was believed then that the higher the fighting ability of the Armed Forces to conduct offensive warfare the stronger the defense of the country Evidently there was a certain discrepancy between the defensive nature of the doctrine in its political aspect with the preeminence of offensive warfare in its military-technical aspect As a result of radical restructuring of the Soviet military doctrine two points of cardinal importance have been included in the current doctrine The first point is that the current doctrine is not aimed at preparing for war it is aimed at preventing war We associate national and universal security with the radical reduction of military confrontation levels termination of the arms race and implementation of realistic disannament measures These taske are in the foreground in our military doctrine Of cardinal importance are the tenets of the doctrine that run as follows the USSR would never be the first to start war against any nation or alliance of nations unless the USSR itself or its allies become the targets of an armed aggression the USSR would never be the first to use nuclear - 6 - weapons it has no territorial claims to any state it does not view any state or nation as its enemy The second point is that in line with the political ground rules the military construction and training of our forces are based on the concept of military sufficiency and defensive strategy The essence of the concept of military sufficiency is in the consistent efforts on a mutual basis to reduce the level of strategic balance down to the limits only sufficient for defense with all of the nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction removed from that strategic balance As to the quality and numbers of the Soviet Armed Forces they must meet the level of a military threat and be determined by the minimum realistic requirements for national security We plan to maintain the forces needed for reliable defense of the country provided the approximate military-strategic balance between the USSR and u s Warsaw Treaty and NATO is not upset Now and then statements are put into circulation in the West claiming that the USSR has modified its doctrine exclusively for propaganda purposes Recalling the pudding proverb I want to give you some concrete examples of how the guidelines of the current Soviet military doctrine are applied to our defense projects It is in the public domain now that within 1989-1990 the Soviet Armed Forces will be unilaterally cut by 500 thousand men Out of that number the reductions in the territories of the GDR Czechoslovakia Hungary Poland and European part of the USSR will include 240 thousand men 10 000 tanks 8 500 artillery pieces 820 combat aircraft The reductions are going strictly according to the established schedule The force structure of our Armed Forces is undergoing defense-oriented changes We are reducing the number of military districts and armies We plan to change the - 1 mix of offensive and defensive weapons in favor of the latter The force posture is undergoing change too We are withdrawing from the GDR Czechoslovakia and Hungary six tank divisions which will be disbanded We have already pulled out of Hungary and GDR three tank divisions and other units The combined anne divisions that stay in the territories of our allies will be transferred to the defensive force structure The motorized rifle divisions are losing 40 percent of their tanks tank divisions are losing 20 percent of tanks From the zone of direct contact between the Warsaw Treaty and NATO we are withdrawing to the USSR territory part of tactical air unite assault-landing and rivercrossing elements with their standard weapons and equipment that were primarily intended for offensive operations By the end of the current year we plan to unilaterally withdraw from the territories of our allies 500 tactical nuclear warheads 166 air bombs 50 artillery shells 284 missile warheads We are ready to withdraw all of the nuclear weapons from the territories of our allies in the course of 1989-1991 provided the U S undertakes a similar move In the next two years the total volume of military production will be cut by nearly 20 percent This program is u already underway This year we will discontine production of highly enriched uranium for military purposes In addition to the industrial nuclear reactor that produced weapons grade plutonium and which was shut down in 1987 we plan to close down two more similar reactors in the course of 1989-1990 No replacements are planned In accordance with the plan of conversion 40 percent of the total outpu by the mili- tary production facilities this year is intended for the national economy and consumerp in 1995 this percentage will grow to 60 percent Part of military transport aviation was switched to air lift cargoes for the national economy The evidence is · convincing enough I believe Running the risk of wearing you down with reading figures and giving facts nevertheless I decided to refer you to the statistics because it always provides a clear picture of the real state of affairs and exposes any claims that try to present the changes in our military doctrine as a propaganda campaign - 8 - Now about the concept of defens ive strategy It absolutely rules out any preventive strikes by the Soviet Armed Forces In the event of an aggression against the USSR the main kind of warfare conducted by our Armed Forces will be defensive warfare The problems of defense of the strategic operations and tactical scope take the preeminent position in the training of our forces Im aggressor must be checked and in order to complete annihilation of the enemy penetrations and restore the defensive lines we envisage counteroffensive actions and operations The main principles of the defensive strategy concept are practised in the course of operational and tactical training All the guiding documents and field manuals are being rewritten to satisfy the requirements of this concept The number of large-scale maneuvers and excerciaea has been reduced We exercise restraint in our everyday military activities I should emphasize here that by adopting the defensive strategy concept we showed good will and qui te conscientiously took a more complicated position - the position of def ense By doing thi s we completely removed the discrepancy between the political objective which is to prevent war and provide reliable security and defense of the country and the practical activities to reach this objective To provide for security of the nation the USSR strictly observes its international obligations based on the U N Charter t he Helsinki accords the Stockholm document on measures to build up confidence and security in Europe ae well aeon bilateral treaties and agreement s and the generally accepted norms of international relations Major problems of theory and practice of conducting warfare and developing the armed forces are dealt with in our military doctrine and the existing war danger in today's world is duly accounted f or There are four major problems of this kind Let me explain them in more detail The first problem - about the nature of military threat and potential enemy - 9 - For many years now we have been hearing that NATO's major military enemy is the Soviet Union and the WTO as a whole After every trip to the Soviet Union NATO's military leaders never fail to mention the so-called Soviet military superiority in Europe and speak of the necessity to build-up the armed forces of the USA and NATO It is true that two military blocs keep their biggest commands in Europe Once the U S President Mr Bush called Europe the cauldron of world conflicts This cauldron has already blown up twice harming the world Last time the Soviet Union and the United States together with our other allies of the anti-Hitler coalition had to put out the war conflagration made by fascism At that time we managed to close the fuming cauldron with a weighty lid of our common victory But this victory coat us a lot of efforts and a great lose of life And since then for more than four and half postwar decades the coals of military confrontation have been smouldering under it The winds of the cold war have been fanning them for a long time and the flame of a hot war was ready to flare up at any time Now we have managed to weaken these winds Under the influence of new political thinking the constructive dialog and reasonable compromises the coals of confrontation begin to cool and get more and more covered with ashes To destroy these smouldering coals forever is in the interests of the Soviet and American peoples of all peoples of the world Proceeding from this aim we are undertaking concrete measures in the military field to remove concerns real and imaginary of the West European countries - 10 - The decision on the unilateral reduction of the Warsaw Treaty Armed Forces in Europe has already been half realized The governments and the public of a number of West furopean states take a positive attitude towards our decisions The image of the enemy personified by the WTO which has been created by some of the Western mass media is gradually fading We are convinced that it is of vital importance and necessity to consistently reduce the level of military confrontation It is not pumping up fear that we need but good will of both parties reasonable compromises mutual constructive decisions a genuine search for solutions of problems bilateral and unilateral efforts to reduce armed forces and weapons The second problem is the definition of what aggression to repel what war to prepare the state and its armed forces for As I have already said the Soviet Union lllder no conditions will be the first to use nuclear weapons It is one of the principles of our doctrine At the same time and you lmow it well the doctrines of direct confrontation and flexible response as well as the concept of nuclear deterrence provide for the first use of nuclear weapons lllder certain circumstances We don't conceal our negative attitude towards these doctrines They've become obviously obsolete Turning more and more into an anachronism they are impeding the process of easing tensions building mutual understanding and trust in international relations As long as the ideas of nuclear deterrence are practised in the NATO military build-up strategy and training as long as the use of nuclear weapons is acceptable we'll FOR C € RE ' T O Cllf yOqr HelR have to maintain o defeneive tasks in a nuclear war The third •Proe -linn includes the definition of the armed forces a state a military alliance should have The Soviet Union has more than once declared its readiness to give up on a mutual basis its status of a nuclear power and to eliminate the nuclear component of its armed forces We are also ready for a step-by-step elimination of nuclear weapons in particular to reduce by 50 percent the strategic offensive arms At the recent Soviet-American talks in Wyoming we put forward new important proposals which will enable us to reach an early agreement - At present space-based military forces and means have been gaining ever increasing prominence in maintaining combat readiness and in conducting warfare The U S is known to possess over 10 space-based complexes of different designations Further development of American space-based military forces and means is connected besides other programs with the SDI which is a comprehensive program for a technological breakthrough and which is designed to help produce a qualitatively ew kind of space weapons The missions of the Soviet spacebased military forces are to spot ballistic missile launches to conduct observation of the enemy territory and installations to provide communications navigation weather and geodetic support Our principled position concerning the ban on placing weapons in space is known to everybody The Soviet Union intends to have conventional anned forces at the minimum level necessary to reliably beat off a possible aggression in conformity with the requirements of reasonable sufficiency for defense Illustrating this approach are our proposals for the composition of the armed forces of two military alliances in Europe Just to remind you these proposals stipulate the reduction of the troop strength of both sides by more than a million men and the reduction of tanks of the Warsaw Treaty by almost three times Once t he reductions are completed both sides could possess equal troop and weapons levels Here are the main ceilings suggested for the sides men - 1 350 000 combat aircraft front-line and tactical aviation - 4 700 combat helicopters - 1 900 tanks - 20 000 artillery - 21 00-22 000 infantry fighting vehicles and APCs - 28 000 Besides it is suggested to trattsform the structure of the armed forces of both sides into a purely defensive one We are ready to operate in the same fashion in all the other directions The fourth problem is connected with the definition of the types of combat operations the armed forces should be trained to repulse an aggression In addition to what I have already said in this connection I will stress t hat the Soviet Armed Forces and the Warsaw Treaty forces as a whole since 1987 have been trained mainly - 12 - for defensive actions to beat off an aggression I might just as well say again that our defensive military doctrine is not a statement of intentions It is a guideline for action In· conformity with the new doctrine we reduce the armed forces restructure them and carry out cooperative efforts with our allies In conformity with this doctrine the mutually beneficial military contacts are being developed with the United States and other states of the North Atlantic Alliance IV It is lmown that the military doctrines of states and coalitions of states their military political and strategic concepts greatly influence strategic stability and world security Therefore giving a purely defensive character to these doctrines and concepts their corresponding evolution under present conditions are of paramount importance The discussion of doctrinal guidelines an exchange of opinions between states and military political alliances concerned would help relieve mutual fears accummulated over many years • evelopment of relations in this sphere on the basis of openness and dialog as well as taking into account the corresponding structural anddev£1opmental changes in the opposing military forces in Europe would help create the necessary prerequisites to alleviate military political tensions in Europe and in the world as a whole In conclusion I would like to say that the international situation strongly demands that relations among nations be freed from confrontation and animosity These relations should be based on openness and glasnost mutual understanding and trust In this lies a decisive guarantee for an all-round and truly reliable security and stable peace