


The United States has around 200 such weapons, half of which are at bases in Europe. They could even be simply driven into an area and detonated. These warheads can be delivered via a variety of missiles, torpedoes and gravity bombs from naval, air or ground forces. The clue is in the name: they are nuclear weapons used for specific tactical gains on the battlefield, rather than, say, destroying the biggest cities of the United States or Russia.įew people know exactly how many TNW Russia has because it is an area still shrouded in traditions of Cold War secrecy.Ĭlearly, however, Russia has a huge numerical superiority over the United States and the transatlantic NATO military alliance when it comes to TNW: the United States believes Russia has around 2,000 such working tactical warheads, 10 times more than Washington. Kyiv and its Western allies fear tactical nuclear weapons could be used in battle after Putin and others warned Russia was prepared to use all its vast arsenal in defence.Īcademics and arms control negotiators have spent years arguing about how to define tactical nuclear weapons (TNW). LONDON (Reuters) - The United States has said the world faces the gravest nuclear danger since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis because of remarks by Russian leader Vladimir Putin during the Ukraine conflict, but Moscow says its position has been misinterpreted. Russian President Boris Yeltsin stunnned his own people and the world when he resigned on Friday and handed over his duties, including the briefcase, [to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin during thier meeting in the Kremlin./File Photo reuters_tickers This content was published on Octo12:59 Octo12:59 FILE PHOTO: A frame taken from a Russian television broadcast on December 31 shows a set of briefcases which contain the codes to launch Russia's armoury of nuclear missiles.
