Speaking at the first session of the public council under the Ministry of Defense, Sergei Ivanov said: "The world has been changing dynamically, and threats have been changing with a kaleidoscopic speed. The times of the Cold War, when everything was predictable and measured-out, were like a paradise in comparison with the present day."
The Cuban Missile Crisis represented the peak of the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States, when the Communist country deployed nuclear ballistic missiles in Cuba in October 1962.
At the time, President John F. Kennedy opted to blockade Cuba rather than invade, as some American military commanders wanted, and a possible escalation was averted after 12 days when the Soviet leader, Nikita Khrushchev, backed down and ordered the missiles removed.
Ivanov, who is also Russia's deputy prime minister, said that today the most threatening trend is the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
In that light, he called on political scientists in the public council to prepare their assessments on developments in the world situation in terms of their impact on Russian national security.
