Andrei Kokoshin spent much of his career at the USA and Canada Institute (1973-1992) before moving into a series of senior government, parliamentary and academic posts. The interview begins with a review of the early years of the Reagan administration and Soviet responses to U.S. military developments, which took the form of the SS-18 missile, civil defense, and other systems. He recalls disparagingly Ronald Reagan's "anti-Soviet" rhetoric and in particular the SDI proposal, which he describes at length. This leads to a discussion of the shift in strategic thinking from Brezhnev to Gorbachev. He notes along the way the Soviets' declaration of non-first use in 1982, denying the implication that a first-use approach obtained before then. He comments on the importance of the Warsaw Pact's new defensive military doctrine, announced in 1987, which was based on the experiences at Kursk in World War II. In his view, recent changes in Reagan administration attitudes toward the Soviets are partly due to fatigue with the persistent levels of tension. Stepping back, he reviews some of the dynamics in the relationship immediately after the war and explains why Stalin did not trust Truman.
![Interview with Andrei Kokoshin, 1987 [1]](https://bpldcassets.blob.core.windows.net/derivatives/metadata/commonwealth-oai:xp68nc65d/image_thumbnail_300.jpg)
![War and Peace in the Nuclear Age; Interview with Andrei Kokoshin, 1987 [1]](https://bpldcassets.blob.core.windows.net/derivatives/metadata/commonwealth-oai:qz20x576w/image_thumbnail_300.jpg)
