Russia and weapons of mass destruction

The Russian Federation has the most nuclear weapons in the world. These weapons are part of a system called a nuclear triad. This includes missiles on land, missiles from submarines, and bombs dropped from airplanes. Russia got these weapons from the Soviet Union.

Russia is one of five countries known to have nuclear weapons under international agreements. There have been worries about Russia and other types of weapons that can cause a lot of harm, like biological and chemical weapons. These are banned by international rules, but there have been concerns about how they are used.

Since 2022, Russia has made threats involving nuclear weapons. This has made other countries worried. Russia also has smaller nuclear weapons, called tactical nuclear weapons, which cause more concern for safety.

The Soviet Union tested many nuclear weapons, including the largest ever tested, called Tsar Bomba. Russia has agreed to stop testing these weapons, but there have been changes in how these agreements are followed. The country also has special materials that could be used to make more nuclear weapons.

Russia’s history with biological and chemical weapons goes back to the Soviet time, when large programs were created. Even though these are banned, there have been concerns about how they are used. These actions have led to worries about safety and the rules countries agree to follow.

Nuclear weapons

Russia has the largest number of nuclear weapons in the world. These are powerful tools that can cause great harm. Russia is one of the five countries allowed to have nuclear weapons under international agreements. It keeps its nuclear weapons in three ways: on land, on submarines, and on bombers.

After the Soviet Union ended in 1991, some nuclear weapons were in other countries like Ukraine, Belarus, and Kazakhstan. These countries chose to give their nuclear weapons to Russia. During the conflict in Ukraine that started in 2022, Russia's leader, Vladimir Putin, talked about using nuclear weapons. This made many people worried. Russia also keeps working on new nuclear weapons and has helped Belarus with some nuclear tools.

Biological weapons

Main article: Soviet biological weapons program

The Soviet Union had a large program for biological weapons. This program broke international agreements that the Soviet Union had signed.

After 1975, the program was mostly run by a group called Biopreparat. There were many labs across the Soviet Union where research was done. In 1979, an accident at a military facility in Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg) released anthrax, and many people became sick. Today, there are concerns that Russia may still do some of these activities, even though they are not allowed.

Chemical weapons

Russia joined the Chemical Weapons Convention in 1993 and approved it in 1997. At that time, Russia said it had many chemical weapons, including blister agents like mustard and nerve agents like Sarin. It took many years to destroy these chemicals because of money and nature problems. By 2017, Russia had destroyed all the chemical weapons it had told about.

There have been worries about Russia using other chemical agents. In 2018, a former Russian agent and his daughter were poisoned in the United Kingdom by a chemical called Novichok. In 2020, a Russian opposition figure was poisoned by the same type of chemical. During the Russian invasion of Ukraine, there were reports of Russian forces using tear gas and other chemicals, which is not allowed by international agreements.