| MO | Ministry of Defense of the USSR (Ministerstvo oborona) |
| MRNF | Medium-range nuclear forces (INF) |
| MSU | Marshal of the Soviet Union |
| NGSh | Chief of the General Staff (Nachal'nik generalnogo shtaba) |
| NST | Nuclear and Space Talks |
| NTM | National technical means (of verification) |
| OMO | International Organizations Department (Otdel Mezdunarodnikh Organizatsiy) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the USSR |
| OSSV | Limitation and Reduction of Strategic Arms (NST) Negotiations (Ogranicheniye i Sokrashcheniye Strategicheskikh Vooruzheniy) |
| OSV | Limitation of Strategic Arms (SALT) negotiations (Ogranicheniye Strategicheskikh Vooruzheniy); OSV-1 (SALT I); OSV-2 (SALT II) |
| OYaVE | Limitation of Nuclear Arms in Europe (INF) negotiations (Ogranicheniye Yadernykh Voorzheniy v Evrope) |
| PGU | First Chief Directorate of the KGB (Pervoye Glavnoye Upravleniye) |
| PVO | Air Defense (Protivovozdushnaya Oborona) |
| RVSN | Strategic Rocket Forces of the Soviet Armed Forces (Raketnyye Voyska Strategicheskogo Naznacheniya) |
| RV | Reentry vehicle |
| SALT | Strategic Arms Limitation Talks |
| SDI | Strategic Defense Initiative |
| SLBM | Submarine-launched ballistic missile |
| SLCM | Sea-launched cruise missile |
| SNV | Reduction of Offensive Arms (START) Negotiations (Sokrashcheniye Nastupatel'nykh Vooruzheniy); SNV-1 (START I); SNV-2 (START II) |
| SRBM | Short(er)-range ballistic missile |
| SSBN | Nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine |
| SSBN | Nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine |
| SSW | Space-strike weapons |
| START | Strategic Arms Reductions Talks |
| TsK | Central Committee (Tsentral'nyy komititet) |