Russia concerned by deployment of new nuclear warheads on US submarines
Russia is “greatly alarmed” by the deployment of low-yield nuclear weapons on US submarines, said Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov, as cited by RBC news agency.
According to Ryabkov, the reason Moscow is concerned is not because it sees this as a threat to its security. Its fears are due to the “doctrine and concepts used by the Americans in the nuclear arena”.
“The security [of Russia] is reliably ensured as a result of the efforts that have been made both in terms of weaponry and in terms of the development of promising prototypes of military equipment,” Ryabkov said.
According to the deputy foreign minister, the emergence of reduced-yield warheads on strategic missile carriers means that the US’s considerations of the possibility of using them in a hypothetical conflict are being “translated into actual products even now”. In Ryabkov’s opinion, the US believes it could wage and win a limited nuclear war.
Recently US Under Secretary of Defense for Policy John Rood said that the US Navy has expanded its nuclear arsenal by deploying two new low-yield W76-2 nuclear warheads on its strategic submarines. According to Associated Press, the yield of the W76-2 is approximately half as much as that of the Little Boy, which destroyed Hiroshima in 1945.