Russia has the world's largest nuclear stockpile, but experts disagree whether Putin will actually use them in such a limited regional conflict.
Their reasoning may have to do with the vagueness of Putin's command."Combat readiness" could refer to something threatening, like activating nuclear missiles for rapid deployment, or to something less so, like simply designating more workers to staff for nuclear weapon silos, NPR reported.
Russia's are stored aboard its submarines, bombers and intercontinental ballistic missiles as well as in over 200 silos across the country. The United States has 100 nuclear weapons stored across Europe.In 2018, thewarned in its nuclear posture review that Russia could use a battlefield nuclear weapon to"'de-escalate' a conflict on terms favorable to Russia." That is, it could feasibly use a small-range nuclear weapon to get its enemy to stop fighting back.
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