Putin Alerts Russia's Deterrent Forces: Nuclear Threat?

Russian President Vladimir Putin, in the face of resistance from the Ukrainian military and the sanctions imposed by the United States and the European Union, announced two days ago that he will place a "special service regime " on strategic deterrence forces.

"The leaders of the major NATO countries are making aggressive statements about us. So I am ordering to move Russia's deterrent forces to high alert mode," Putin announced.

It should be noted that some analysts indicate that the Russian head of state communicated this message with the aim of warning other countries not to interfere in the invasion of Ukraine, however, the same words resonate as a nuclear threat.

It should be noted that Russia's strategic deterrence forces are a dynamic implemented in the Cold War that are made up of the Strategic Offensive Forces and the Strategic Defensive Forces, whose objective reflected on the website of the Ministry of Defense is:

"Deter aggression against Russia and its allies, as well as defeat the aggressor in a war using various types of weapons including nuclear ones ."

What is Russia's nuclear arsenal?

In the same order of ideas, the Strategic Offensive Forces have at their disposal intercontinental missiles and long-range aircraft that include the Strategic Missile Troops that form the strategic nuclear forces.

In turn, the Conventional Strategic Forces are also part of this group, which include the missile carrier aviation of the Russian Navy with long-range and precision weapons, strategic and long-range bomber units, submarines and ships.

For their part, the Strategic Defensive Forces are made up of aerospace defense means that have a missile attack warning system, a space control system, space defense, anti-missile defense and anti-aircraft defense.

Nuclear weapons have been built for 80 years and some countries use them as a deterrent to guarantee peace. Currently, only nine countries have nuclear weapons: the United States, Russia, China, Israel, the United Kingdom, France, India, Pakistan, and North Korea.

Similarly, the Federation of American Scientists reported that Russia possesses 5,977 nuclear warheads, considered strategic nuclear weapons. It should be noted that around 1,500 are retired and ready to be dismantled, but of the rest, many of them can be directed over long distances.

The only nuclear bombs used in wars were dropped by the United States on August 6 and 9, 1945, on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, respectively. These became the deadliest attacks in history, leaving an estimated 200,000 dead.

However, it is known that Russia has in its arsenal the Tsar Bomb (Tsar Bomba), which is a weapon of mass destruction 3,800 times more powerful than those used in Japan.

It is a hydrogen bomb developed by the Russians and its detonation evidences the largest explosion caused by human beings to date.

Also known as the Emperor bomb or the Emperor of bombs, RDS-220 or RDS-202, it is the most powerful energy device used in the test carried out on October 30, 1961 in the New York archipelago military test area. Zembla, in the Archangel Oblast, in the Arctic Ocean.

It should be noted that the explosion is more powerful because in hydrogen bombs, the process of releasing energy is by fission and secondary fission.

The detonation took place at an altitude of 4,000 meters, the mushroom cloud spread 100 kilometers from end to end and 64 km high.

Instantly the explosion generated an 8 km fireball whose luminosity could be seen over 1,000 km away and its effects could also be felt.

"The test of an exceptionally powerful hydrogen charge confirmed that the Soviet Union is in possession of a thermonuclear weapon with capacities of 50 megatons, 100 megatons and more," Reuters reported.

There was a lot of damage that was generated in the closest towns, however, thanks to the fact that the bomb did not touch the ground, the amount of radiation was very low. The international community was quick to condemn the action of the Soviet Union.

It is noteworthy that the Tsar Bomb far exceeded the 15 megaton explosion of the "Castle Bravo" hydrogen bomb dropped by the United States in 1954 on Bikini Atoll.