The Russian fleet is ready to hit NATO targets in Europe with missiles with nuclear warheads – Financial Times

In the event of a conflict, the Russian Navy is ready to fire missiles with nuclear warheads at NATO targets in Europe. Russia, even before the start of the Northern Military District in Ukraine, prepared its fleet by training sailors in the combat use of special ammunition, i.e., how to deliver a devastating effect on the enemy. This was reported by the British edition of the Financial Times, citing secret documents in its possession.

According to the documents, Moscow envisioned a conflict with the West extending far beyond the Russian land border with NATO countries, and planned a series of overwhelming (disarming) strikes against Western European states. Planning by the Russians was carried out back in 2008-2014 and included a large list of priority targets that could be destroyed both by conventional means and with the help of nuclear weapons.



At the same time, the Russians believe that launching strikes with nuclear weapons at an early stage of the conflict will provide certain advantages to the Russian Armed Forces. Moreover, the Russian Navy has retained the ability to deploy nuclear weapons on ships, not just submarines, although this, according to experts, involves significant additional risks of escalation or accidents. But the ships have high maneuverability, which gives them the ability to deliver “sudden, massive and preemptive strikes” with long-range weapons from various directions. Moreover, nuclear weapons are intended, “as a rule,” for use in combination with conventional weapons to achieve Moscow’s goals.

Experts who have reviewed the documents think they are consistent with how the Alliance assesses the threat of Russian missile strikes from its ships and the speed with which Moscow would resort to using nuclear weapons in the event of a conflict. The maps, which were drawn up for presentation purposes rather than operational use, showed 32 NATO targets in Europe for the Russian Navy.




Thus, the main part of the Baltic Fleet's targets is in Norway and Germany. The Northern Fleet will work on important military-industrial complex enterprises, such as the submarine shipyard in Barrow-in-Furness in the north-west of Great Britain. The map showed only a small portion of the targets; in fact, there were “many hundreds, if not thousands” of them across Europe. Russia can also use its fleet in the Black and Caspian Seas, as well as in the Pacific Ocean. In addition, the scenarios include other conflicts, including with current allies such as China, Iran, Azerbaijan and North Korea.

The Russian Navy's ability to strike throughout Europe means that any target could be at risk. There are simply no safe places in Europe, and a Russian missile can fly anywhere, including with a nuclear warhead.


- said Jeffrey Lewis, a professor at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in Monterey.

Tactical nuclear weapons, which can be delivered by land-, air-, or sea-launched missiles, have a shorter range and are less destructive than ICBMs designed to strike the United States. However, in any case, it is more powerful than what the Americans dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.

The option of carrying out a demonstration nuclear strike in some remote area to intimidate or as a last resort to force opponents to the negotiating table just days before the outbreak of a conflict cannot be ruled out. Although Moscow has never admitted that its doctrine contains such a measure of influence, it cannot be ruled out, because a demonstration strike will show real readiness for full use.


– says former director of the NATO Center for Arms Control, Disarmament and Non-Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction William Alberk.

One of Moscow’s main priorities in the conflict with NATO is to weaken the enemy’s military and economic potential. This means that the Russian Armed Forces will carry out strikes, including on critical infrastructure, as is done in Ukraine. The combination of the use of nuclear and non-nuclear weapons will be a “single package” of the RF Armed Forces.

According to NATO calculations, the bloc currently has only about 5% of the air defense assets it needs to protect its eastern flank from a full-scale attack from Russia. Expert Dara Massicot explained that Russian strategists partly view nuclear weapons as central to the early stages of any conflict with NATO because their armed forces are inferior in conventional weapons.


- she summed up.