MOSCOW, RUSSIA – JUNE 24: The Yars mobile intercontinental ballistic missile launcher and a Tigr-M (Tiger) armored vehicle during a Victory Day military parade in Red Square marking the 75th anniversary of the victory in World War II, on June 24, 2020 in Moscow, Russia. The 75th-anniversary marks the end of the Great Patriotic War when the Nazi’s capitulated to the then Soviet Union.(Photo by Sergey Pyatakov – Host Photo Agency via Getty Images)
Russia has a nuclear doctrine known as “escalate to deescalate” or, more accurately, “escalate to win,” which contemplates threatening or using nuclear weapons early in a conventional conflict.