The Russian armed forces have been practicing the use of tactical nuclear weapons at an early stage in a conflict with a superpower.
Russia is ready to use tactical nuclear weapons early in a superpower confrontation.
It turns out newspaper for the Financial Times from leaked Russian military documents.
The documents seen by the newspaper are from the years 2008–2014 and they describe the conditions under which the Russian armed forces can resort to tactical nuclear weapons.
According to the experts interviewed by the Financial Times, the threshold for resorting to these weapons is lower than what Russia has publicly admitted.
Tactical nuclear weapons are weapons designed primarily against military targets, which are significantly less destructive than strategic nuclear weapons – intended for the destruction of large cities.
In the scenarios practiced by the Russian armed forces, tactical nuclear weapons can be deployed in very different situations.
According to documents seen by the Financial Times, these weapons can be used when Russian soil is attacked or when, for example, 20 percent of its submarines carrying strategic nuclear missiles have been destroyed.
– The documents show that the operational threshold for the use of nuclear weapons is quite low, if the desired goal cannot be reached by conventional means, estimates the director of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center think tank in Berlin Alexander Gabuev for the Financial Times.
Prepared for a Chinese attack
From the documents seen by the Financial Times, it appears that Russia has practiced the use of nuclear weapons, for example, in case of an attack by China.
According to the newspaper, Russia’s defense plans reveal the Kremlin’s deep mistrust of China.
Russia and China have deepened their economic and military relations especially since Xi Jinping came to power in Beijing in 2012. Both countries have also publicly opposed or demanded changes to the US-led world order.
The war in Ukraine over the past two years has strengthened Russia’s position as China’s junior partner, the Financial Times writes.
Among the Western powers, the rapprochement between China and Russia is assessed as a threat and an avoidable development process.
Russian military documents were shown to the Financial Times by a Western source.