Russia and weapons of mass destruction in the context of "Weapons of mass destruction"

The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, commonly referred to as the Russian Armed Forces, are the military of Russia. They are organized into three service branches—the Ground Forces, Navy, and Aerospace Forces—three independent combat arms (the Strategic Rocket Forces, Airborne Forces and Unmanned Systems Forces) and the Special Operations Forces Command.

The Russian Armed Forces are the world's fifth largest military force, with about one million active-duty personnel and close to two million reservists. They maintain the world's largest stockpile of nuclear weapons, possess the world's second-largest fleet of ballistic missile submarines, and are the only armed forces outside the United States and China that operate strategic bombers. As of 2024, Russia has the world's third-highest military expenditure, at approximately US$149 billion, or over seven percent of GDP, compared to approximately to US$86.5–$109 billion the year before.

Nuclear weapons testing is the act of experimentally and deliberately firing one or more nuclear devices in a controlled manner pursuant to a military, scientific or technological goal. This has been done on test sites on land or waters owned, controlled or leased from the owners by one of the eight nuclear nations: the United States, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, France, China, India, Pakistan and North Korea, or has been done on or over ocean sites far from territorial waters. There have been 2,121 tests done since the first in July 1945, involving 2,476 nuclear devices. As of 1993, worldwide, 520 atmospheric nuclear explosions (including eight underwater) have been conducted with a total yield of 545 megatons (Mt): 217 Mt from pure fission and 328 Mt from bombs using fusion, while the estimated number of underground nuclear tests conducted in the period from 1957 to 1992 is 1,352 explosions with a total yield of 90 Mt. As a result of the 1996 Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, there were no declared tests between the 1998 Pakistani Chagai-II and the 2006 North Korean test, and none outside North Korea to date.

Very few unknown tests are suspected at this time, the Vela incident being the most prominent. Israel is the only country suspected of having nuclear weapons but not confirmed to have ever tested any.

An intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is a ballistic missile with a range greater than 5,500 kilometres (3,400 mi), primarily designed for nuclear weapons delivery (delivering one or more thermonuclear warheads). Conventional, chemical, and biological weapons can also be delivered with varying effectiveness but have never been deployed on ICBMs. Most modern designs support multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles (MIRVs), allowing a single missile to carry several warheads, each of which can strike a different target. The United States, Russia, China, France, India, the United Kingdom, Israel, and North Korea are the only countries known to have operational ICBMs. Pakistan is the only nuclear-armed state that does not possess ICBMs.

Early ICBMs had limited precision, which made them suitable for use only against the largest targets, such as cities. They were seen as a "safe" basing option, one that would keep the deterrent force close to home where it would be difficult to attack. Attacks against military targets (especially hardened ones) demanded the use of a more precise, crewed bomber. Second- and third-generation designs (such as the LGM-118 Peacekeeper) dramatically improved accuracy to the point where even the smallest point targets can be successfully attacked.

The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, commonly known as the Non-Proliferation Treaty or NPT, is an international treaty, the objective of which is to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons technology, to promote cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, and to further the goal of achieving nuclear disarmament and general and complete disarmament. Between 1965 and 1968, the treaty was negotiated by the Eighteen Nation Committee on Disarmament, a United Nations-sponsored organization based in Geneva, Switzerland.

Opened for signature in 1968, the treaty entered into force in 1970. As required by the text, after twenty-five years, NPT parties met in May 1995 and agreed to extend the treaty indefinitely. The treaty defines nuclear-weapon states as those that have built and tested a nuclear explosive device before 1967; these are the United States (1945), Russia (1949), the United Kingdom (1952), France (1960), and China (1964).

There are currently nine sovereign states that are generally understood to possess nuclear weapons, though only eight formally acknowledge possessing them. In order of first successful nuclear test, the world's nine nuclear-armed states are the United States (1945), Russia (1949), the United Kingdom (1952), France (1960), China (1964), India (1974), Pakistan (1998), and North Korea (2006); Israel is believed to have acquired nuclear weapons around 1967, but has never openly tested or formally acknowledged having them. Under the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, and China are recognized "nuclear-weapons states" (NWS). They are also the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. Israel, India, and Pakistan never signed the NPT, while North Korea acceded to it in 1985 before announcing withdrawal in 2003.

South Africa developed nuclear weapons by 1982 but dismantled them around 1989 and joined the NPT in 1991. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the former Soviet republics of Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Belarus had nuclear weapons deployed on their territories, but agreed to transfer them to Russia (which inherited the Soviet Union's international rights and obligations) and join the NPT as non-nuclear-weapon states.

China was the fifth country to develop and test nuclear weapons. China's tested its first nuclear weapon in 1964 and its first full-scale thermonuclear weapon in 1967. It is one of the five nuclear-weapon states recognized by the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), to which it acceded in 1992. It carried out 45 nuclear tests before signing the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty in 1996.

The Federation of American Scientists and the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute estimate China's stockpile at approximately 600 nuclear warheads as of 2025, making it the third-largest in the world. It is the only NPT nuclear-weapon state significantly expanding its arsenal, which has doubled since 2019, and is projected to reach between 750 and 1,500 warheads by 2035, although it has not restarted fissile material production. Unlike the US and Russia, nearly all Chinese warheads are believed to be in central storage, separate from their delivery system.

The Force de dissuasion (French pronunciation: [fɔʁs də disɥazjɔ̃]; English: 'Deterrence Force'), known as the Force de frappe ([fɔʁs də fʁɑp]; 'Strike Force') prior to 1961, is the French nuclear deterrence force. The Force de dissuasion used to be a triad of air-, sea- and land-based nuclear weapons intended for deterrence. With the end of the Cold War, France decommissioned all its land-based nuclear missiles. The Force de dissuasion today is only an air- and sea-based arsenal. The French Nuclear Force, part of the French military, is the fourth largest nuclear-weapons force in the world, after the nuclear triads of the United States, the Russian Federation, and the People's Republic of China.

France's programme was shaped not only by the Cold War, but by the trauma that resulted from the Battle of France. General Pierre Marie Gallois, one of the architects of the deterrence force, is said to have been marked "by the tragic effects of an excess of German power" in his strategic thinking. France developed a military nuclear programme with the aim of retaining a strategic advantage over Germany. In 1961 Charles de Gaulle reminded John F. Kennedy that "Germany is legally prevented from having any [nuclear weapons]," adding that "the disadvantages deriving from German possession of atomic weapons would be far greater than the advantages."