In a move that increases stress between the U.S. and Russia, President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that Moscow will suspend its participation in the 2010 START treaty, the sole arms reduction pact between the two nations that hold most of the world's nuclear weapons.
Putin’s announcement followed President Joe Biden’s surprise visit to Ukraine on Monday, where the president promised additional support for Ukrainian forces.
START – the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty – limits the U.S. and Russia to 1,550 strategic nuclear warheads and 700 long-range bombers and missiles. It also allows each nation to inspect the other’s nuclear sites 18 times a year to ensure compliancy with the pact.
Though Putin said Russia was suspending participation in the treaty, not ending it, lack of inspections could allow Russia to evade treaty mandates without detection.
Putin’s declaration has focused Western attention on Moscow’s nuclear stockpile and how it compares against those of other nations. Here's a look at Russian tactical and strategic nuclear weapons:
What’s the difference between a tactical and strategic missile?
According to the Defense Department, tactical nuclear weapons, sometimes called battlefield or nonstrategic nuclear weapons, were designed to be used on the battlefield. They are smaller than strategic nuclear weapons like the warheads carried on intercontinental ballistic missiles, which are designed to be used against enemy cities, factories and large-area targets.
Tactical nuclear weapons vary in yield from sub-kiloton to about 50 kilotons, compared with strategic nuclear weapons, which have yields that range from about 100 kilotons to more than a megaton.
Which countries have nuclear weapons?
Nine countries have tactical nuclear weapons, according to the Federation of American Scientists. They are Russia, the United States, China, France, the United Kingdom, Pakistan, India, Israel and North Korea.
Global nuclear missile stockpiles
According to a paper printed in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Russia has a stockpile of an estimated 2,000 tactical nuclear missiles. The Union of Concerned Scientists, a nonprofit science advocacy organization based in the U.S., says that the yield of these weapons ranges from 'very low' to over 100 kilotons.
The U.S. has an estimated 200 tactical nuclear bombs, which have yields of 0.3 to 170 kilotons (The bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, on Aug. 6, 1945, was 15 kilotons.) In the interactive simulation site NUKEMAP, created by Alex Wellerstein, the effects of a nuclear explosion at various levels of kilotons are shown.
Breakdown of Russia's stockpile
How are tactical missiles launched?
Most tactical nuclear weapons are deployed via air-to-surface missiles; short-range ballistic missiles; gravity bombs and depth charges delivered by medium-range and tactical bombers; and naval anti-ship and anti-submarine torpedoes. These missiles are mostly held in reserve in central depots in Russia.
Contributing: AP; John Bacon and Josh Meyer, USA TODAY
SOURCE AP, Federal of American Scientists; Union of Concerned Scientists; USA TODAY research