Russian nuclear forces and new weapons

President Vladimir Putin, who has been seeking the revival of Russia as a strong and influential power, successfully achieved reelection in 2018. In his inaugural address in May of that same year, President Putin stated that Russia is a strong, active, and influential participant in international life and that the country’s security and defense capability are reliably secured. He also stated that quality of life, wellbeing, security, and health were his main goals and that Russia has risen like a phoenix a number of times throughout history, and believes it would achieve a breakthrough again.

At the annual presidential address to the Federal Assembly of Russia in March of that same year, held prior to the presidential election, President Putin said, “Russia ranks among the world’s leading nations with a powerful foreign economic and defense potential.” At that same time, President Putin talked about modernizing Russia’s military equipment, including its strategic nuclear forces, and emphasized that Russia would be developing new weapons as a measure in response to the deployment of missile defense systems by the United States domestically and abroad. President Putin also expressed the recognition that Russia’s military power helped maintain strategic parity in the world and remarked that Russia is prepared to negotiate toward the construction of a new system for international security and sustainable development of civilization.

However, the INF Treaty came to an end in August 2019, following the United States’ notification of its intention to withdraw from the pact—which became the first-ever convention on the abolition of a specific type of weapon when it was concluded with the United States during the Soviet era—on the grounds that Russia had violated the treaty. Russia and the United States subsequently each announced their intention to develop intermediate-range missiles. 

Since the 2014 Ukrainian crisis, Russia has faced a diplomatically difficult situation, with its right to attend meetings of the leaders of the Group of Seven major nations (G7 Summits) being suspended and the country being subject to economic sanctions. However, a phenomenon that could be dubbed “sanctions fatigue”—the inability to continue bearing the economic burden of the prolonged imposition of sanctions—has emerged among some of the countries with a close economic relationship with Russia. On the other hand, Russia’s ability to withstand sanctions has been growing, as it has promoted import substitution, while on the foreign policy front, President Vladimir Putin has taken the stance that “there are other organizations which play an important role in world affairs” and the country has been demonstrating a growing presence in the G20 and multilateral diplomatic forums in which Western countries do not participate, such as the SCO and the association of five major emerging economies (BRICS: Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa).

In addition, Russia’s presence in the military field in the Middle East and Africa has been growing. Russia has been conducting military intervention in Syria since September 2015. Russia has indicated that it has the ability to swiftly and continually deploy military assets in remote areas while acquiring bases in Syria. Russia has signed a memorandum of understanding with Turkey on the establishment of a DMZ. Russia’s growing involvement in the Syrian situation will attract attention as a move aimed at expanding its influence in the Middle East. In September 2019, Minister of Defence Sergei Shoigu stated that “Russia’s military intervention in the Syrian conflict signified not only the liberation of Syria but also Russia’s return to global politics and the multi-polarization of the modern world.”

That October, Russia dispatched two Tu-160 strategic bombers to South Africa for the first time and held the first trilateral joint exercise involving the navies of Russia, China, and South Africa off the coast of South Africa the following month. In December 2019, the first trilateral joint exercise involving the navies of Russia, China, and Iran took place in the northern Indian Ocean.

Russia has been expanding the range of countries to which it exports weapons, including promoting sales of the latest weapons to NATO member Turkey.

Amid this situation, in January 2020, President Putin proposed to the State Duma a constitutional amendment bill that included changes to the president’s term of office. With some remarking that this is an effort by President Putin to lay the groundwork for a regime after the end of his term of office in 2024, developments in Russia will be the focus of attention as the president’s term of office draws to a close.

Read it here

Frequently Searched Links:

• Russian nuclear forces, 2021

• Russian nuclear doctrine 2020

• Russian strategic missile forces

• How many nuclear warheads does Russia have

• U.S. strategic missile forces

• RVSN Russia