Russia and weapons of mass destruction

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Russia possesses the largest stockpile of weapons of mass destruction in the world. Russia declared an arsenal of 40,000 tons of chemical weapons in 1997 and is said to have around 8400 nuclear weapons stockpiled in 2005, making its stockpile the largest in the world. The Soviet Union ratified the Geneva Protocol on January 22, 1975 with reservations. The reservations were later dropped on January 18, 2001.

1 Nuclear weapons
2 Biological weapons
3 Chemical weapons
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Nuclear weapons

Main article: Soviet atomic bomb project

Template:Nuclear weapons

[edit] Nuclear arsenal of Russia

Russia was estimated to have around 7,200 active strategic nuclear warheads in its arsenal, and around 8,800 inactive or on "inactive reserve," for a total nuclear arsenal of around 16,000 ^[1]. Russia also has a large but unknown number of tactical nuclear weapons [1]. Strategic nuclear forces of Russia include ^[1]:

Land based Strategic Rocket Forces: 489 missiles carrying up to 1,788 warheads; they employ immobile (silos), like SS-18 Satan, and mobile delivery systems, like SS-27 Topol M.
Sea based Strategic Fleet: 12 submarines carrying up to 609 warheads; they employ delivery systems like SS-N-30 Bulava.
Strategic Aviation: 79 bombers carrying up to 884 Cruise missiles.

[edit] Doctrine of limited nuclear war

According Russian military doctrine stated in 2003, tactical nuclear weapons (Strategic Deterrence Forces) could be used to "prevent political pressure against Russia and her allies (Armenia, Belarus, Serbia, Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan)." Thus, the Russian leadership "is officially contemplating a limited nuclear war" ^[2]

[edit] Nuclear proliferation

After the Korean War, Soviet Union transferred nuclear technology and weapons to the People's Republic of China as an adversary of the United States and NATO According to Ion Mihai Pacepa, "Khrushchev’s nuclear-proliferation process started with Communist China in April 1955, when the new ruler in the Kremlin consented to supply Beijing a sample atomic bomb and to help with its mass production. Subsequently, the Soviet Union built all the essentials of China’s new military nuclear industry" ^[3].

Russia is one of the five "Nuclear Weapons States" (NWS) under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which Russia ratified (as the Soviet Union) in 1968.

Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, a number of Soviet-era nuclear warheads remained on the territories of Belarus, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan. Under the terms of the Lisbon Protocol to the NPT, and following the 1995 Trilateral Agreement between Russia, Belarus, and the USA, these were transferred to Russia, leaving Russia as the sole inheritor of the Soviet nuclear arsenal. It is estimated that the USSR had approximately 39,000 nuclear weapons stockpiled at the time of its collapse.

Image:USSR nuclear warheads 1949-2002.png

USSR/Russian nuclear warhead stockpiles, 1949-2002.

In 2002, the United States and Russia agreed to reduce their stockpiles to not more than 2200 warheads each in the SORT treaty. In 2003, the US rejected Russian proposals to further reduce both nation's nuclear stockpiles to 1500 each. Many say that this refusal was a sign of US aggression and accuse the US of thus leaving the danger of US and Russia's mutual destruction. Russia is actively producing and developing new nuclear weapons. Since 1997 it manufactures Topol-M (SS-27) ICBMs which current US air defence systems are unable to destroy.

Russia allegedly transferred rocket technology to North Korea ^[4]

Russia refused to discuss reduction of tactical nuclear weapons^[2].

[edit] Biological weapons

Main article: Soviet program of biological weapons

Soviet program of biological weapons has been initially developed by the Soviet Ministry of Defense (between 1945 and 1973)^[5]

Soviet Union signed the Biological Weapons Convention on April 10, 1972 and ratified the treaty on March 26, 1975. Since then, the program of Biological weapons was run primarily by the "civilian" Biopreparat agency, although it also included numerous facilities run by the Soviet Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Chemical Industry, Ministry of Health, and Soviet Academy of Sciences^[5]

According to Ken Alibek, who was deputy-director of Biopreparat, the Soviet biological weapons agency, and who defected to the USA in 1992, weapons were developed in labs in isolated areas of the Soviet Union including mobilization facilities at Omutininsk, Penza and Pokrov and research facilities at Moscow, Stirzhi and Vladimir. These weapons were tested at several facilities most often at "Rebirth Island" (Vozrozhdeniya) in the Aral Sea by firing the weapons into the air above monkeys tied to posts, the monkeys would then be monitored to determine the effects.^[5]

There were accidents including one at Sverdlovsk (Yekaterinburg) where anthrax was accidentally released when one of filters was temporarily removed, and people across the street in a factory fell ill and died. The story about Sverdlovsk anthrax leak was published in Russia in 1993 ^[5].

[edit] Chemical weapons

Russia signed the Chemical Weapons Convention on January 13, 1993 and ratified it on November 5, 1997. Russia declared an arsenal of 40,000 tons of chemical weapons in 1997.

Russia met its treaty obligations by destroying 1% of its chemical agents by the Chemical Weapons Convention's 2002 deadline [2] but requested technical and financial assistance and extensions on the deadlines of 2004 and 2007 due to the environmental challenges of chemical disposal. This extension procedure spelled out in the treaty has been utilized by other countries, including the United States.

Russia has built three chemical weapons destruction plants: at Gorny, at Kambarka, and at the Maradykovsky complex. Four more facilities are still under construction at other locations. Lieutenant General Valery Kapashin reaffirmed in 2007 that Russia would fulfill its obligations under the CWC to destroy all of its chemical weapon stockpiles by 2012^[6]; however, U.S. analyses have claimed that neither Russia nor the U.S. will finish operations by that date.^[7] Russia's program is financed by Russian funding as well as money from the U.S. and other countries.