Strategic Time and Depth: Russia’s TV/TVD Architecture and the Operational Art of Endurance

In Russian strategic thought, time is not an obstacle to be overcome but a resource to be exploited. The very notion of victory is inseparable from the management of duration, resilience, and rhythm. Rather than seeking rapid, decisive outcomes, Russia plans for conflicts as long processes whose length becomes an asset. This conception of “strategic time” redefines power: the side able to sustain operations, regenerate resources, and adapt over extended periods is ultimately dominant. Western militaries, conditioned by short political and budgetary cycles, regard time as a cost; Russia treats it as a variable of advantage. The ability to survive, reorganize, and re-enter the fight is embedded in institutional design, industrial planning, and doctrine. The result is a model of war in which patience and continuity replace velocity and surprise as core instruments of power. This understanding of time explains why the Russian threat cannot be defused quickly: it is structurally persistent, founded on a system capable of turning the very passage of time into an element of deterrence.