Russian submarines with the capacity to carry 16 ballistic missiles each reportedly sailed into the north Atlantic last month. The submarines were sent by Russian President Vladimir Putin just hours after he put his nuclear forces on a "special" state of alert following the invasion of Ukraine, The Times reports.
British Navy chiefs regarded the move as "posturing", as opposed to an actual threat, when western militaries tracked it four weeks ago. The submarines were soon called back and normal levels of activity have since continued but western intelligence agencies have increased their monitoring of Russia's nuclear arsenal in the wake of the move.
These type of submarines can carry "strategic" missiles which have the capability to destroy a town or city. Analysts believe Russia's use of such nuclear weapons is "unthinkable".
But many think that "tactical" nuclear weapons, which are designed to to destroy specific enemy targets without causing widespread devastation, could be deployed by Putin. Such missiles, for example, are capable of taking out an area the size of a football stadium.
Russia is understood to have the world's largest stockpile of nuclear warheads at 4,447. Thousands of those are believed to be tactical.
A navy source told The Times : “The majority of Russian conventional weapons can be retrofitted with a low-yield nuclear capability. It is more complex than ‘plug and play’ but the Russians are quite innovative in what they put in front of bombs and missiles."
US defence spokesman John Kirby has said there is no indication that Moscow is planning to use such weapons, which have to be dropped by aircraft or fired from land. But a western official told The Times that the use of tactical nuclear weapons was seen by Russia "as an option which will be used below a strategic nuclear threshold”.
Pavel Podvig, a world-leading expert on Russian nuclear forces, explained that a number of steps must be taken in order for such missiles to be used. The need to be removed from the bunkers they are stored in, placed on trucks which then have to transport them to an airfield in order for them to be loaded on to waiting aircraft.
In order to be deployed from land platforms, the warheads would need to be transported to a location like a forest where they would be installed onto missiles. Mr Podvig said that western intelligence agencies have satellites monitoring infrared heat signatures that would detect if such any such process was enacted.
He added that there is no way Putin can be sure of hiding the process. And the western official confirmed that there had been no sign so far of any nuclear warheads being loaded onto missiles bound for Ukraine.
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