Russian Nuclear Weapons: Past, Present, and Future

States to repatriate or destroy all its nuclear weapons
deployed outside of U.S. national territory, as did
Russia with its nuclear weapons deployed in former
Soviet states after the Cold War (with U.S. assistance).
The U.S. argument will be that Russia must dismantle
or relocate some of its own tactical nuclear weapons
that are forward deployed in Russia’s western military
districts and, in particular, near to the borders of
NATO member states.
Russia considers the assumption of symmetrical
reductions in tactical nuclear weapons with NATO
to be unfair because NATO already has superior conventional
forces relative to Russia. Therefore, Russian
tactical nuclear weapons provide reassurance against
NATO escalation dominance, in case of any situation
of threat or outbreak of local war. In addition, elimination
of sub-strategic nuclear weapons calls for levels of
transparency even beyond the inspection and verification
regimes required for strategic nuclear weapons,
as under New START, and steps on the national sensitivities
of American NATO allies. Outside the realm
of Russia’s public diplomacy, but surely on the minds
of Russian military planners, as Jacob Kipp has noted,
is the undoubted role of Russia’s sub-strategic nuclear
weapons in deterring any conventional war against
China or, in the event of deterrence failure, in contributing
to a war termination on favorable terms. 43
The Obama Nuclear Agenda.
President Obama’s extended agenda for nuclear
marginalization (and, in theory, eventual abolition)
goes beyond further START reductions and limitations
on NATO and Russian tactical nuclear weapons. 44 In
addition, Obama wants the United States and other
outliers to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty
432