Russian Nuclear Weapons: Past, Present, and Future

tion), Russia has 5,400 of these warheads, 2,000 are in
a combat-ready state, and the majority of them are in
Europe.” 89
Hawkish members of the Russian security elite
tend to unite around the idea that it is too early to
begin to discuss the tactical nuclear issue. On March
5, 2010, addressing a nonproliferation conference in
Moscow dedicated to the 40th anniversary of the Nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), Army-General
Yuri Baluyevsky, Deputy-Secretary of the Russian Security
Council and former CGS, said that such talks
could begin, but only after the United States withdrew
such weapons from Europe, stressing the United
States is unique in being only country that has TNW
on the territories of other states. Baluyevsky stressed
that “American tactical nuclear armaments in Europe
are strategic for Russia because their delivery vehicles
have a small distance to cover.” 90 Baluyevsky also reacted
negatively to the shift in U.S. nuclear doctrine,
saying that it was rooted in the growing capability of its
high-precision strike systems, and echoed the concern
of other Russian military officials about placing conventional
warheads on strategic delivery systems. 91 In
October 2009, Lieutenant-General Andrei Shvaichenko,
Commander of the RVSN, expressed deep concern
that international security might be damaged by the
formation of the U.S. Global Strike Command. He said
that as conceived, strikes could be launched carrying
a nuclear or conventional payload, and he noted that
no detection system was capable of distinguishing the
type of warhead after its launch. The state targeted
by such a strike would need to evaluate the degree
of threat and appropriate retaliatory measures to be
taken, he said. “In the short time span involved, the
response will be quite predictable, which could push
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