US intelligence chief speaks worriedly about Russia's nuclear weapons
The United States believes Russia is not complying with the nuclear test ban, the head of the Pentagon's Military Intelligence Agency, Colonel Robert Ashley Jr. said.
“Our understanding of nuclear weapons development gives us reason to believe that Russia’s testing activities have helped it develop its nuclear potential,” said Robert Ashley Jr. at the Hudson Institute.
The last nuclear test in the Soviet Union was held on October 24, 1990. In 1996, the United Nations adopted the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, which was signed by more than 180 countries. However, some countries have not ratified the agreement, including the United States.
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| A Russian tactical nuclear weapon |
Russia's tactical nuclear arsenal is not as large as it was under the Soviet Union, but it still possesses at least 2,000 nuclear warheads deployed in the armed services and in combat readiness, along with 5,000 undeployed warheads (the former Soviet military may have possessed between 15,000 and 25,000 nuclear warheads).
Russia uses its nuclear arsenal to compensate for shortcomings in its conventional weapons systems. Nuclear weapons are also not covered by the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START).
Russia has several ways to attack targets with nuclear warheads, such as using short-range ballistic missiles 9K720 Iskander. They could be deployed to the Kaliningrad region on the Baltic coast to attack US missile defense sites in Poland.
