The role of nuclear weapons in world politics: history and modernity

The article examines the role of nuclear weapons not only as a military force of states, but also as a political factor in world politics. In the historical context, the author considers the use of nuclear weapons by the United States, which used nuclear weapons against Japan as an instrument of influence on its opponents, primarily the USSR. The article reveals the importance of nuclear weapons in the functioning of the Yalta-Potsdam system of international relations that developed after the end of World War II, especially during the Caribbean crisis of 1962 as the most acute phase of the crisis in relations between the two superpowers. The article focuses on new approaches to the role of nuclear weapons in world politics after the collapse of the USSR, analyzes the modern strategy of Russia's nuclear deterrence that is set out in the Fundamentals of the State Policy of the Russian Federation in the Field of Nuclear Deterrence of June 2, 2020.