What is Russia’s military doctrine for deploying tactical nuclear weapons? | DW News

What is Russia’s military doctrine for deploying tactical nuclear weapons? | DW News

Russia says that it has begun tactical nuclear weapons drills close to Ukraine Russia’s defense Ministry says the drills will test its Readiness to deploy the weapons the exercises are taking place in Russia’s Southern military District now that includes parts of Ukraine under Russian occupation the Kremlin says that the exercises come in response to what it is calling threats by certain Western officials Russian officials pointed to recent comments by France’s president he said that NATO should not rule out deploying troops to Ukraine for the military analyst Marina Marone joins me now from the Estonian Capital talene it’s good to see you again talk to us a little bit about what exactly what these weapons that Russia is testing what are they good evening brand it’s good to be here again well what we have to understand there is a substantial difference between Tactical nuclear weapons and strategic nuclear weapons um so tactical nuclear weapons or rather Warheads they have a much lower yield so from um one kiloton up to about 50 so the destructive power is much less and then they can be fitted on different missiles that Russia has for instance um caliber missiles or those of the isander M complex meaning that the range is also limited so essenti here we’re talking about an exercise of deploying those tactical nuclear weapons given the um much shorter range in Battlefield conditions rather than what one would expect using international uh in Continental um sorry icbms to Target the likes of the United States Marina why is Vladimir Putin why is he playing up the nuclear threat now well we have to go back a little bit and remember that from the very beginning of the invasion of Ukraine Putin has been uh shaking his nuclear saber and um every single time the West was trying to supply Ukraine with some weapons Putin would refer to a potential use of nuclear weapons and I think that has eroded the deterrent power of at least strategic nuclear weapons for Russia and now Russia has reached a moment where it needs to reestablish that strategic power of its nuclear weapons however it’s not all black and white and he has found this gray area meaning the tactical nuclear weapons um basically which could be used in response to European countries deploying troops to Ukraine and specifically this is related to statements made by French and British officials we know that no country has used nuclear we weapons since the US Atomic Bomb attacks on Japan almost 80 years ago what do you think it would take for Vladimir Putin to break that taboo now well the Russian military Doctrine is not very clear on the threshold when it comes to using tactical nuclear weapons so that is an interesting point because obviously their destructive power is not as great as s of strategic however Putin still has to give his okay for these weapons to be used so even if they’re used in Battlefield conditions or a special um communication equipment and so Putin has to communicate it and to give his okay and I think the threshold for their use is much lower and I think there is a possibility that that might be considered however I I don’t know what Putin might think but if he sees that Russia might be losing in Ukraine because NATO decides to deploy troops and especially if Crimea comes under attack and there is a potential for Russian loss of Crimea I think that he might just as well order the use of tactical nuclear weapons so what kind then of of nuclear scenarios would you say that Ukraine and NATO what kind of scenario should they be preparing for well in this case I think that the nuclear weapons might be used in Battlefield conditions I do not believe that Putin would try using tactical nuclear weapons against NATO members but again this is just an assumption and I think that NATO should be well aware of this even if the possibility of their use is very slim what would NATO response be would France use its nuclear weapons as a response so I think it is necessary to calculate that possibility into the whole scenario with Ukraine and also perhaps um to um actually see how NATO comes out of this um escalatory ladder where Putin is now raising the stakes are we prepared to go one step further or not so that would be a question for NATO planners yeah it’s a step of course that everyone hopes um never has to be taken military analyst Marina morone joining us tonight Marina as always thank you thank you for having mew’s Eastern Europe editor Roman Garo joins us now for more Roman good to see you Russia says that these drills are a response to what it says are Western threats how seriously should Ukraine and its allies take them well um both are taking those threats seriously but um I do think that in Ukraine and in the west nobody believes that there is an imminent threat of Russia actually using uh those tactical nuclear weapons because um um looking at the situation on the battlefield there is no reason for Russia to do that um against Ukraine Russian forces are occupying new territories of Ukraine so Ukrainian armor is weakened by um not having enough ammunition not enough soldiers so um um no no um nothing speaks of Russian uh Russia using them against Ukraine but it’s like just like before in the past years it looks like it’s an attempt to prevent the west from helping Ukraine more um than before giving maybe certain types of weapons more powerful weapons or as you’ve said uh those me the mentioning of um a possibility that NATO troops some country NATO countries could send troops to Ukraine to help Ukrainian Army for example in western parts of Ukraine so not involved in a combat operation so no immediate uh contact between NATO troops and Russia and also of course Russia is worried by Ukrainian wish to strike with Western weapons on Russian territory this could be a serious threat for Russia so Russia is signaling don’t do that and we report all the time about military exercises being carried out also by Russia that’s not nothing new what may be unusual is the fact that we’re talking about tactical nuclear weapons being included in these drills tell us a little bit if you will about tactical nuclear weapons ex exactly what are they well indeed it is not unusual to have those drills unusual is that Russia is showing off and um um explaining telling the world that it is conducting those exercises now so close to the Ukrainian border so this is unusual and also unusual that it’s taking place also in belus a neighboring former Soviet Republic near Ukraine where Russia has deployed nuclear weapons only only a year ago tactical nuclear weapons are basically basically differ from strategic nuclear weapons by the range so they they um they are um um they cannot fly um many thousands of kilometers and miles away so uh and and they’re less powerful those are basically two major differences but um the difference there is a kind of Gray Zone some Russian technical weapons like the eand missiles uh or the um newest developments like the Hypersonic kinal missiles Airborne um they fly hundreds of miles whereas um sea launched um caliber missiles can fly thousands of kilometers which is actually quite a lot so L Russia could launch them from the C PNC far away from the Ukrainian border um but those technical weapons are meant um not to destroy large cities but rather smaller cities though it’s it’s a weapon of intimidation I would say and U Russia is not going to use them this is this is my estimation and this is what also a lot of nuclear experts I’ve been talking to are saying Russia is trying to threaten the West not to give Ukraine certain weapons DW’s Eastern Europe editor Roman Roman as always we appreciate your time and your insights thank you

Earlier this month, Russia announced that it had plans to carry out tactical nuclear weapons exercises near the Ukrainian border. On Tuesday, Russia’s military began these drills in the Southern Military District for the first time since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The Kremlin says the exercises are in response to Western military officials threatening deeper involvement in the war in Ukraine.

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