Russian Nuclear Weapons: Past, Present, and Future

The main Russian military newspaper, Krasnaya
Zvezda, has published several articles this year underscoring
that Russia wanted the United States to
remove all its TNW from Europe even before Moscow
would consent to enter into nonstrategic arms control
talks. One author explained:
Before the beginning of official discussions on this
theme, Washington and Moscow must take the same
starting position in the negotiations. [The United
States must agree] to withdraw all of its TNW from the
European continent and bring them back to its own
territory. That is, it must do what Russia did 15 years
ago. 74
American officials have traditionally responded to
this Russian argument by noting that U.S. nonstrategic
nuclear weapons play an essential role in sustaining
NATO’s nuclear deterrence and discouraging efforts
by additional NATO members to acquire their
own nuclear weapons.
On those rare occasions when prominent Russian
policymakers have gone beyond this party-line position,
they have laid out stringent conditions for even
initiating nonstrategic arms control talks—these conditions
are unlikely to be soon realized unless NATO
proves willing to make vary generous unilateral concessions.
On September 3, 2007, Russian Colonel General
Vladimir Verkhovtsev, head of the Defense Ministry’s
12th Main Directorate (Glavnoye Upravleniye
Ministerstvo Oborony—GUMO), which is responsible
for Russia’s nuclear weapons, told reporters that Russia
would consider negotiating additional restrictions
on nonstrategic nuclear weapons, “but it must take
place with the participation in the process of other
countries, above all Britain and France.” 75 Since France
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