Russian Nuclear Weapons: Past, Present, and Future

Sixth, Russian policymakers can issue nuclear
threats to try to influence the foreign and defense
policies of other countries. In recent years, Russian
political and military leaders have sought to discourage
former Soviet bloc states from joining NATO or
hosting U.S. ballistic missile systems on their territory
by warning that such actions would make them
legitimate targets for Russian nuclear strikes. Finally,
TNWs represent one of the few defense dimensions
in which Moscow has a clear advantage over NATO
militaries. This superiority enhances Russia’s bargaining
position in certain arms control negotiations.
Given the many benefits that the Russian Government
derives specifically from its TNWs, Russian officials
would likely require major NATO concessions to relinquish,
reduce, or otherwise restrict them.
FORCES
There is no agreed definition of what constitutes a
“tactical nuclear weapon.” Terms such as “nonstrategic,”
“substrategic,” “short-range,” “battlefield,” and
“theater” nuclear weapons are also used. The yield
of the weapon’s explosive power may no longer be a
good indicator, now that many countries are developing
low-yield nuclear weapons. Range is therefore
more often used as a classifying category, but many
nuclear warheads can simply be moved from a shortrange
launcher to a longer-range one. Yet, relying on
nonphysical properties—such as the weapon’s intended
use—is difficult when some countries, such as
Russia, intend to use TNW for both tactical battlefield
purposes and strategic ones. Fundamentally, these
systems are those nuclear weapons not deployed on
“strategic” nuclear delivery vehicles such as land-
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