Nikolai Sokov

Senior Fellow

nsokov@miis.edu
Vienna, Austria

Background

Beginning in 1981, Dr. Nikolai Sokov worked at the Institute of US and Canadian Studies and the Institute of World Economy and International Relations in Moscow. From 1987-92 he worked at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of the Soviet Union and later Russia, and participated in START I and START II negotiations as well as in a number of summit and ministerial meetings.

He has been invited to speak at numerous conferences and provide briefings to many organizations and governmental agencies, including:

• US Department of State
• US Department of Defense
• US Department of Energy
• Various committees of US Congress
• US national laboratories
• UK Defense Academy
• International Institute for Strategic Studies
• Fondation pour la Recherche Strategique
• Tomsk Polytechnical University

Education

Dr. Nikolai N. Sokov has a PhD from the University of Michigan (1996) and (the Soviet equivalent of a PhD) Candidate of Historical Sciences degree from the Institute of World Economy and International Relations (1986). He graduated from Moscow State University in 1981.

CNS Work

• Avoiding a Post-INF Missile Race
  Brief prepared for the CNS-CENESS US-Russia Dialogue on Nuclear Issues in Moscow.
• The Elusive Russian Nuclear Threshold
  The US debates a greater reliance on nuclear weapons as Russia seems to decrease it.
• The Hague Code of Conduct: Multivector Expansion
  At a UN event, Dr. Nikolai Sokov discusses risky but valuable changes to the missile regime.
• Nuclear Comeback Time in Europe?
  For arms control to survive, we must focus on what we need, not necessarily what we want.
• How NATO Could Solve the Suwalki Gap Challenge
  A close look at the Suwalki dilemma leads to three conclusions, all of them uncomfortable.
• A Unilateral, Reciprocal Post-INF Cool Down
  The time may be right to take a cue from the 1991 Presidential Nuclear Initiatives.
• The INF Treaty Crisis: Filling the Void with European Leadership
  In a post-INF world, who will agree to talk to Russia, and with whom will Russia agree to talk?
• The Presidential Nuclear Initiatives, 1991-1992
  An assessment of past performance and future relevance
• It Is Time to Update the President’s Nuclear Command Authority
  Increased oversight, under the right circumstances, would decrease the risk of any US president using nuclear weapons preemptively or without just cause.
• The Putin-Trump Summit: In Helsinki, Three Worldviews Will Clash
  The West’s clash with Russia is a preview of the conflicts that will arise in the coming decades.

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Bibliography

Dr. Nikolai N. Sokov is the author or co-author of several monographs, including:

• Delegitimizing Nuclear Weapons: Examining the Validity of Nuclear Deterrence (2010)
• Reducing and Regulating Tactical (Nonstrategic) Nuclear Weapons in Europe (2009)
• Engaging China and Russia on Nuclear Disarmament (2009)
• Evolution of Nuclear Strategy in U.S. and Russia and its Implications for Arms Control (2003)
• Tactical Nuclear Weapons: Options for Control (2000)
• Russian Strategic Modernization: Past and Future (2000)
• Russian Policy Toward the Baltics: What the West Can Expect and What It Could Do (1999)

He is also co-author and co-editor of the first Russian-language college-level textbook on nuclear nonproliferation (Yadernoe Nerasprostranenie, Vol.I-II, PIR Center, 1st edition 2000, 2nd edition 2002).