Global geopolitical shifts which have taken place in recent decades require a rethinking of the concept of strategic stability, which previously had been based on mutual nuclear deterrence of the superpowers. Along with the transition from a bipolar to a multipolar world, the content of the global strategic balance lost its one-dimensional character, and new threats to national security came to the forefront. The destruction of the bipolar system and the transition to a polycentric model of world order facilitated weakening of the regime of nuclear non-proliferation. Geopolitical changes and technical progress gave new meaning to the military-strategic balance of nuclear superpowers. The authors analyse the approaches of Russia and the United States to strategic stability and investigate factors and directions of international activity that could contribute to the preservation and strengthening of multilateral strategic stability.