| Summary/Abstract |
The legacy of the Great Patriotic War, particularly the June 1941 ‘surprise’ attack, remains alive and well in contemporary Russia’s foreign and defense policies. Most notably, it serves as the basis for contemporary Russian ideas about ‘strategic deterrence’ and features as an underlying motive of Russia’s relationship with NATO. Even if the idea of a US/NATO initiation of war on the Russian Federation seems absurd, the fact this idea has remained alive and well for more than seven decades would seem to indicate that efforts to change this mindset, perhaps by revisiting the German invasion and demonstrating why a ‘21st century Barbarossa’ is indeed absurd, should be prioritized as part of any effort to improve NATO-Russia relations.
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