Russia is the world's leading nuclear power, with a total of 4,380 warheads in its possession, according to Statista. It owes this strength as much to its past as to its current military strategy.

One reason Moscow is unassailable is its nuclear power . From the world's most powerful bomb to new IRBMs and a record number of nuclear warheads, here's the country's entire atomic arsenal and why it's so difficult to quantify.

The number of nuclear warheads Russia possesses has always been a subject of debate in the military sphere. This figure, estimated at 4,380, compared to 3,708 in the United States (in 2024), is in fact particularly contested. Frédéric Mauro, a lawyer at the Brussels bar and specialist in European defense issues, explains to CNEWS: "The question of the number of nuclear warheads is part of what is called 'the fog of war'. Generally, when we are sure of ourselves, we display the warheads we possess. For example, in France, we know that we have a total of 280 warheads."

WEAPONS SYMBOLIC OF “A HISTORIC THIRST FOR REVENGE”

But the Russian case is more delicate, as the expert explains: "We're talking about such colossal stockpiles, with these thousands of announced warheads, that it presents several difficulties. First, we have to manage and maintain these warheads, which inevitably age. We have to check their effectiveness, their proper functioning, and remove the warheads that the nuclear authorities are no longer 100% certain will explode. It's still an impressive task, which is all the more important given the size of the stockpile. Does Russia really have all these nuclear warheads, as we read? Only a clever person can say. I'm not sure they themselves know exactly."

Whatever the exact number of warheads in Russia's stockpile, their importance to Vladimir Putin 's policy appears to be paramount in the eyes of experts. For Frédéric Mauro, the desire to acquire such a striking force denotes a "quest for power and recognition." For him, "Russian leaders, and in particular Vladimir Putin, who has been in power for 25 years, are driven by a thirst for historical revenge."

The analyst points out, for example, that Barack Obama 's famous 2014 statement , which described Russia as a mere "regional power," has not been forgotten on the other side of the Urals. "This revenge has not been taken in the economic sphere, in which Russia remains a middle power. Its GDP remains lower than that of Italy, for example. Nor is it a country that has achieved technological feats on par with Silicon Valley. It is therefore taking this revenge on the military level. Its quest for international recognition involves a desire to be considered as an equal with the United States."

"RUSSIA IS REALLY CONSIDERING THE USE OF TACTICAL ATOMIC WEAPONS"

Interviewed by CNEWS, Jean-Marc Vigilant, a French military pilot and general, points out that there is another explanation for Russia's accumulation of these heavy weapons. "More than Russian history, the Russian doctrine still applied by Vladimir Putin explains the importance of having such resources at its disposal. What makes the Russians have so many more heads than us is also that their doctrine is different from ours." Indeed, the French general explains that "unlike us, they are really considering the use of tactical atomic weapons."

Tactical weapons are opposed to so-called strategic weapons. While the latter can reach much more distant targets and are "much more massive and capable of causing much more damage," tactical weapons "range hundreds of kilometers and have lower power." According to Jean-Marc Vigilant, after "having used conventional shells," Russian doctrine is considering using these weapons of mass destruction. "This is a major difference with Western doctrine, and for example, French doctrine, which considers that the use of atomic weapons, regardless of their size, changes the nature of war. We, the French, do not envisage such use. These are two completely different postures," he summarizes.

This Russian idea particularly emerged in the 2010s, when the country engaged in a real war in Eastern Europe. A conflict that demonstrates that despite all of Russia's resources, Moscow is not militarily untouchable. "The spectacular number of warheads displayed by Russia is not really of interest. You have to keep in mind that having so many warheads is not useful: after one or two atomic explosions, the game is over. A quantitative approach doesn't really make sense. We're in the business of strategic communication, of instilling fear," analyzes Jean-Marc Vigilant.

Just because you have a lot of weapons doesn't mean you're the strongest.

 

He continues, taking as an example the war waged by Vladimir Putin in Ukraine, for more than 11 years: "It doesn't make sense: it's not because you have a lot of weapons or ammunition that you are the strongest. We have seen it clearly, moreover, Russia engaged with its thousands of tanks, planes, soldiers and nuclear bombs in Ukraine, where it was supposed to wage a three-day war and after three and a half years, they haven't made much progress."

But in an attempt to achieve its goals, the Eurasian nation has embarked on a vast operation to modernize its nuclear weapons. Frédéric Mauro recounts: "There was a fierce Russian desire to modernize its nuclear arsenal, not on the warheads, which have always been the same since the USSR, but there has been a spectacular breakthrough in the performance of delivery systems, such as the "Satan" or "Orechnik." These innovative weapons and their use have also pushed the country to disassociate itself from certain international treaties.

By being part of the START agreements for the reduction of intermediate-range nuclear weapons , Russia has long agreed not to have IRBMs. Weapons that "were no longer useful because between 1990 and 2010, they no longer envisaged a battle in Europe, unlike military deterrence, which has always made sense," explains Jean-Marc Vigilant.

But on August 2, 2019, Russia was accused by the United States of having violated this treaty for many years, which therefore decided to withdraw, putting an end to "a valuable tool against nuclear war," as UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres declared. A decision which, according to him, would "strengthen, not weaken, the threat posed by ballistic missiles."

ORECHNIK, A NUCLEAR MISSILE THAT “NO ONE CAN STOP”

On the Ukrainian front, this threat materialized in 2024, when the IRBM called 9M729-Orechnik was used on the city of Dnipro. "This hazelnut has an intermediate range, between 500 and 5,000 km," describes Frédéric Mauro. He continues: "Russia, with these missiles, could reach continental European countries like France. This IRBM could carry up to 10 warheads. It was fired with inert warheads for a test. It is said to be hypersonic. It is not actually a true hypersonic, because it cannot reach a speed of Mach-6, in the atmosphere, but it is, like all warheads that re-enter the atmosphere from space. To my knowledge, once this missile enters the atmosphere, no one can stop it."

This satellite image shows the aftermath of a failed takeoff of the RS-28 Sarmat in Plesetsk, Russia. © Handout / Maxar Technologies / AFP

Russian engineering has also developed the RS-28 Sarmat, which is also the subject of much discussion. Nicknamed Satan-2, this intercontinental ballistic missile "could circle the Earth thanks to its nuclear propulsion." For the European defense specialist, the Poseidon program, also codenamed Status-6, nevertheless remains Russia's most impressive military feat: "For this famous torpedo, we are talking, in open sources, about a 25-meter-long weapon, which could reach 200 knots, thanks to supergravity. It could also go to depths of 1,000 meters, which would make it completely undetectable."

"It would operate using thermonuclear reloads, which would make it an absolutely formidable weapon. Especially since the entire American anti-ballistic missile defense has been focused on ballistic missiles, whose trajectory is predictable. There are two types of missiles that escape this defense. These are hypersonic cruise missiles, which do not follow predictable trajectories. Underwater torpedoes are also not predictable, even if the Americans are actively working on them. But a defense consisting of a torpedo that would intercept another torpedo traveling at 200 knots still seems distant," he concludes.

THE TSAR BOMBA: SYMBOL OF RUSSIAN NUCLEAR POWER

Beyond its tactical weapons, Russia has also demonstrated its strength in strategic bombs. In addition to having the largest number of nuclear warheads in the world, Moscow actually has the most devastating of them all. Tested in 1961, the Tsar Bomba was 3,800 times more powerful than the one dropped on Hiroshima in 1945. Images captured from the Russian bomber show a mushroom cloud that reached an altitude of up to 65 kilometers. Its diameter was 90 kilometers.

The Tsar Bomba was dropped in 1961 © YouTube screenshot - Rosat

"Tsar Bomba is indeed the most powerful bomb in the world. It weighed 57 megatons, thousands of times more than Hiroshima or Nagasaki, which are measured in kilotons. The Hiroshima fireball was about a hundred meters, but here we're talking hundreds of kilometers," adds Frédéric Mauro, about this record-breaking bomb.

Around the drop zone, which took place in the Arctic, an area comparable to that of the Île-de-France region was completely destroyed. The luminous flash caused by the bomb was seen more than 1,000 kilometers away. Finally, the shock was felt on seismographs around the world.