By contrast, Soviet strategy in the Cold War was dominated by the desire to prevent, at all costs, the recurrence of an invasion of Russian soil. The Soviet Union nominally adopted a policy of no first use, which in fact was a posture of launch on warning.Beatrice Heuser, "Warsaw Pact Military Doctrines in the 70s and 80s: Findings in the East German Archives", Comparative Strategy Vol. 12 No. 4 (Oct.–Dec. 1993), pp. 437–457. Other than that, the USSR adapted to some degree to the prevailing changes in the NATO strategic policies that are divided by periods as:Pupkov, et al. Weapons of anti-missile defense of Russia Strategy of massive retaliation (1950s) () Strategy of flexible reaction (1960s) () Strategies of realistic threat and containment (1970s) () Strategy of direct confrontation (1980s) () one of the elements of which became the new highly effective high-precision targeting weapons. Strategic Defense Initiative (also known as "Star Wars") during its 1980s development () which became a core part of the strategic doctrine based on Defense containment.
By contrast, Soviet strategy in the Cold War was dominated by the desire to prevent, at all costs, the recurrence of an invasion of Russian soil. The Soviet Union nominally adopted a policy of no first use, which in fact was a posture of launch on warning.Beatrice Heuser, "Warsaw Pact Military Doctrines in the 70s and 80s: Findings in the East German Archives", Comparative Strategy Vol. 12 No. 4 (Oct.–Dec. 1993), pp. 437–457. Other than that, the USSR adapted to some degree to the prevailing changes in the NATO strategic policies that are divided by periods as:Pupkov, et al. Weapons of anti-missile defense of Russia Strategy of massive retaliation (1950s) () Strategy of flexible reaction (1960s) () Strategies of realistic threat. and conta:inment (1970s) () Strategy of direct confrontation (1980s) () one of the elements of which became the new highly effective high-precision targeting weapons. Strategic Defense Initiative (also known as "Star Wars") during its 1980s development () which became a core part of the strategic doctrine based on Defense containment.