I think we all assumed that their military leaders understood the consequences of nuclear war as well as ours do, and that should someone like Putin order a preemptive strike, they would push back, to the level of staging a coup.
But seeing how badly they allowed their ground defense equipment to decay, now I wonder. They would have had no way to defend themselves from attack from a neighboring country. A preemptive strike on foreign soil would be their only defense.
@EileenKCarpenter I was watchig a clip of the head of Russia Today flapping her gob about how Russia needs to conquer Poland. They can't even oust a ragtag militia from Belgorod.