INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Russia's nuclear arsenal has come under renewed scrutiny following its strike on Ukraine with the new Oreshnik ballistic missile capable
of carrying nuclear warheads.The attack, Moscow said, was a response to Ukraine's use of United States and British-made missiles to hit
Russian territory.The latest escalation in Russia's nearly three-year war on Ukraine comes just days after President Vladimir Putin
approved changes to Moscow's nuclear doctrine to permit a nuclear response to conventional non-nuclear attacks on Russian soil.Putin also
last month stated that military facilities in Western countries that allowed Ukraine to use their weapons for strikes on Russia could
command was selecting targets to hit in Ukraine, threatening that future strikes could target government buildings in Kyiv.Here is an
possess almost 90 percent of all nuclear weapons, according to a 2023 report by The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute
to the United States Congressional Research Service.These are distributed across its strategic nuclear triad, comprising about 326
intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), 12 ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs) equipped with 192 submarine-launched ballistic missiles
(SLBMs) and 58 strategic bombers.Russian nuclear submarine Knyaz Vladimir.HoteitH (CC BY-SA 4.0)Russia stopped sharing official data on its
strategic nuclear forces with the United States in 2023
However, Russian officials claim the country continues to adhere to the New START treaty limits, maintaining approximate parity with United
second.Putin gave more details of its characteristics last week, saying that the missile has "dozens of warheads, homing warheads."Putin
added that the missile does not cause mass destruction because "there is no nuclear warhead, and that means there is no nuclear
contamination after its use."Military experts have said that, while the Dnipro strike used a conventional warhead, Oreshnik could also carry
nuclear warheads.Parts of a missile that were collected for examination at the impact site in the town of Dnipro following an attack on Nov
21, 2024.Roman Pilipey / AFPThe Oreshnik missile can carry three to six warheads, military expert Viktor Baranets wrote in the Komsomolskaya
Pravda tabloid, while Ukraine's intelligence said it had six.Igor Korotchenko, editor of the Moscow-based National Defense Journal, told
the state-run TASS state news agency that based on video footage of the strike, Oreshnik has multiple independently guided warheads.What
else does Russia have?Russia possesses a diverse arsenal of nuclear weapons and delivery systems, including advanced strategic missiles and
hypersonic weapons.One of the backbones of its strategic missile forces includes the RS-24 Yars, an intercontinental ballistic missile with
TASS said last week that Russia was continuing work to put Sarmat on combat duty.The Avangard, a Russian hypersonic glide vehicle, can also
deliver both conventional nuclear payloads
range of up to 3,000 kilometers
the Tu-95MS and Tu-160 serve as delivery systems for nuclear-tipped cruise missiles, including the Kh-101 and its nuclear variant, the
These include warheads deliverable by aircraft, artillery systems and short-range missiles like the Iskander-M, which has a range of up to
