Russian Hard Power

This chapter examines Russia’s renewed defensive and offensive capabilities. It defines hard power as conventional and nuclear forces. The chapter compares Russian military power to that of the United States and China. The material in this chapter demonstrates that Russia has rebuilt and modernized its hard power resources considerably since the 2008 military reform. In some areas, by 2020, Russia was capable of seriously challenging NATO’s combined capabilities. The chapter covers the New Look military reforms that began in 2008 in Russia. It looks also at Russian spending on the military in dollar and ruble terms in order to get a more complete understanding of how much Russia actually spends compared to the United States and China. It provides a detailed overview of Russia’s existing conventional capabilities in land, sea, and air, as well as comparative nuclear upgrades.