 This led the Soviets to “enhance the value of nuclear weapons” as a war fighting weapon.However, in 1982, the Soviet Union renounced the first use of nuclear weapons, but the declaration did not affect the soviets war plan, as they still considered a preemptive strike if authentic information was acquired.In March 1979, the Soviet Minister of Defense, Marshal Dmitrii Ustinov anticipated that NATO would easily be able to enlist the help of China and France, from that he deduced that NATO could be ready for war in as little as 48 hours.