Missiles in Europe: Back to the Future?

Sergei Karaganov, Doctor of History, is Dean of the School of World Economics and International Relations at the National Research University–Higher School of Economics.

There is an increasingly strong feeling of deja vu as some of Russia’s Western partners are trying to replay the scenario of the late 1970s and early 1980s when the deployment of Soviet SS-20 medium-range missiles and American Pershing and land-based cruise missiles in Europe triggered a long military-political crisis. As a result, detente in Europe was halted or even reversed for many years.