President Vladimir Putin announced on Thursday that Russia has successfully tested a powerful new strategic missile and declined to rule out the idea of conducting nuclear weapons testing for the first time in more than three decades.
For the first time, Putin announced the successful testing of the Burevestnik, a nuclear-powered and nuclear-capable cruise missile with a potential range of thousands of kilometers.
He also told an annual meeting of analysts and journalists that Russia was nearly finished with its Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile system, which is another crucial component of its new generation of nuclear weapons.
Putin, who has regularly reminded the world of Russia’s nuclear capability since his invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, said no one in their right mind would use nuclear weapons against Russia.
If such an attack was discovered, “so many of our missiles – hundreds, hundreds – would appear in the air that no enemy would have a chance of survival,” he claimed.
Russia hasn’t performed a nuclear explosive test since 1990, the year before the Soviet Union collapsed, but Putin hasn’t ruled out the prospect of doing so again.
He pointed out that the US had not ratified the treaty prohibiting nuclear tests, whereas Russia had both signed and ratified it. According to him, the Duma, Russia’s parliament, may conceivably rescind its ratification.
Debate over nuclear doctrine amidst rising tensions and testing possibilities
According to military analysts, resuming nuclear testing by Russia, the US, or both would be profoundly destabilizing at a time when tensions between the two countries are higher than at any time in the previous 60 years. Putin stopped Russia’s participation in the New START deal, which limits the number of nuclear weapons each side can deploy, in February.
But, according to Putin, there was no need to rewrite Russia’s nuclear doctrine, which states that it may deploy nuclear weapons in reaction to a nuclear strike against it or in the event of a threat to the state’s existence.
In response to a question from Russian analyst Sergei Karaganov, who has argued for lowering the threshold for nuclear use, Putin said: “I simply don’t see the need for this.”
He added: “There is no situation today in which, say, something would threaten Russian statehood and the existence of the Russian state. No. I think no person of sound mind and clear memory would think of using nuclear weapons against Russia.”
Karaganov has raised eyebrows among both Russian and Western strategic analysts by saying that Russia should reduce its nuclear threshold in order to “contain, frighten, and sober up our opponents.”
In a recent piece, he stated that Russia should “shake up” its adversaries by threatening nuclear assaults on European countries and US bases in Europe.
