For the first time since the collapse of the USSR, ships of the Russian Northern Fleet have put to sea with tactical nuclear weapons on board, the Norwegian Intelligence Service writes in its annual report.
In Soviet times, warships of the Northern Fleet regularly carried out raids with nuclear weapons, but such cases have not been observed since the end of the Cold War, the document says.
Russia has used up three-quarters of its modern ground-to-ground missiles in Ukraine, according to intelligence data. So now that Moscow needs time to rebuild its arsenal of long-range precision weapons, “non-strategic nuclear weapons will play a more prominent role in regional defense.”
“The main part of the nuclear potential is located on submarines and surface ships of the Northern Fleet,” the intelligence service writes. At the same time, the agency notes that tactical nuclear weapons pose a serious threat in the scenario of a potential confrontation between Russia and NATO.
“Both the likelihood of misunderstandings between Russia and NATO and the risk of unintentional incidents are increasing, which in turn increases the risk of escalation,” the report says.
Earlier, Norwegian intelligence found that Russia had withdrawn up to 80% of its troops from units near the border with Norway and Finland. Of the 3,000 soldiers sent from there to Ukraine, half died. “Ground forces on the Kola Peninsula were reduced to one-fifth of their strength before the invasion of Ukraine,” said Nils Andreas Stensenes, head of the Norwegian Intelligence Service.
Russia compensated for the decrease in the size of the regular army on the border with Norway by deploying strategic bombers capable of carrying nuclear weapons. In October 2022, the Norwegian edition of Faktisk published satellite images of 11 Tu-160 and Tu-95 aircraft, which were located at the Olenya airbase in the Murmansk region.
“The deployment and exercise of strategic bombers is in itself a form of nuclear deterrence, so in general it can be seen as part of Putin’s threats to use nuclear weapons,” said Norwegian military expert Lars Peder Haga.
Source: The Moscow Times
