War in Ukraine: Russia is the country which has the largest nuclear arsenal

Monday 05th May 2025 12:24 PM

Vladimir Putin told Russian television hoping not to use nuclear weapons.

Russia is the country with the world’s largest infection of warheads.

The country has tactical, strategic and intermediate weapons.

Will Russia use nuclear weapons? Vladimir Putin has long threatened the world to use this weapon. He assured, in a documentary celebrating his 25th anniversary in power, hoping not having to make use of nuclear, specifying that it would be an error.

His country is the one with the largest military arsenal in the world. Its stock of nuclear warheads is the most provided, with 5,580 heads. For comparison, the United States has 5044, China 500 and France 290. Its arsenal is just as extensive, with 129 strategic bombers, 14 nuclear submarines and 870 terrestrial ballistic missiles.

Various weapons

It is also important to specify that Russia has various weapons. In France, we only have strategic weapons, explains Colonel Peer de Jong in LCI: “Very concretely, from the submarines, we will launch missiles several thousand kilometers.” While Russia is effective on three levels: strategic (beyond 5,500 kilometers), tactical (between zero and 500 kilometers on the front), and intermediate, “intended to shoot Europe”explains the colonel.

Find the explanations of our experts in the video at the top of this article.