ABSTRACT
Even a decade after the Soviet collapse and despite the unprecedented economic decline that took place in the 1990s, the Russian Federation still remains one of the two global nuclear superpowers, possessing deployed nuclear forces at levels comparable to or, probably, even exceeding those of the United States. There is detailed information on Russian strategic nuclear capabilities because, under the US-Russian START I Treaty, Moscow and Washington are obliged to exchange data on their strategic nuclear systems and their deployment. As of 2004, Russia deployed approximately 5,500 strategic nuclear warheads mounted on both land- and sea-based ballistic missiles, as well as on heavy bombers. At the same time, the Russians have never officially disclosed the number of their tactical nuclear weapons. The estimates vary considerably, but it is believed that perhaps a number in the low thousands are still deployed on the ground with several more thousands kept in central storage sites ready for return to their delivery vehicles.
