Nuclear

The Soviet nuclear weapon program began during World War II and culminated in a successful atomic bomb test in 1949. Russia, as the successor of the Soviet Union, is a nuclear weapon state party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and one of the three NPT depository states.[1] According to estimates by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), by 1991 the Soviet Union had approximately 35,000 weapons in its stockpile, down from a peak in 1986 of approximately 45,000.[2]

Under the provisions of the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), the 2002 Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty (SORT, also known as the Moscow Treaty), and the New START Treaty that entered into force in 2011, Russia and the United States are limited to 1,550 strategic warheads by 2018. As of September 2012, Russia had 1,499 warheads on deployed intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM), submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBM), and counted for heavy bombers.[3] However, Moscow's current total stockpile of strategic and tactical nuclear warheads remains uncertain as there is no accurate count of its tactical nuclear weapons.

Russia inherited a massive nuclear weapons production complex and large stocks of weapons-grade fissile material after the collapse of the Soviet Union. It is estimated that Russia currently has 737 metric tons of weapons grade-equivalent highly enriched uranium (HEU) and approximately 128 metric tons of military-use plutonium.[4] Despite cooperative agreements in this area, the transparency of Russia's HEU and plutonium stocks is limited.

Biological

The Soviet Union ratified the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC) in 1975 and was one of three depository states.[5] However, the Soviet Union violated the terms of the BTWC by secretly operating a large offensive BW program until the USSR's dissolution in 1991. The Soviet BW arsenal included the causative agents of anthrax, smallpox, plague, tularemia, glanders, and hemorrhagic fever.[6] In wartime, formulated agents would have been loaded into a variety of delivery systems, including aerial bombs and ballistic missile warheads.[7] Soviet BW scientists also researched, developed, and produced anti-crop and anti-livestock agents.[8] Additionally, The USSR established an anti-plague system, the primary objective of which was to control endemic disease and prevent the import of exotic pathogens that could threaten crops, animals, and humans. In the late 1960s, the system was also tasked with defending the USSR against biological attacks.[9] This anti-plague system continues to operate in Russia today.

Even though the full extent of the Soviet biological weapons program is unknown, facilities suitable for offensive biological weapon production likely remain in Russia.[10] Russia continues to engage in dual-use biological research activities, and there is no indication that these activities are inconsistent with its BTWC obligations. However, it remains unclear whether Russia has fulfilled its obligations under Article I of the convention.[11] Some nonproliferation experts also worry scientists formerly associated with the Soviet biological warfare program may assist foreign nations with clandestine BW programs.[12]

Chemical

During the Cold War, the Soviet Union developed the world's largest arsenal of chemical weapons, including artillery shells, bombs, and missiles that contained choking agents (phosgene), nerve-agents (sarin, soman, and VX), and blister agents (mustard, Lewisite, and mustard-lewisite mixture).[13] There have been allegations that the Soviet Union developed a new class of nerve agent (Novichok), estimated to be between 5 and10 times more toxic than VX.[14] Russia inherited the declared Soviet stockpile of 40,000 metric tons of CW munitions and agents stored in bulk.[15] In November 1997, it ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), but financial and other difficulties have been an impediment to the timely destruction of its chemical weapons stockpile. Moscow announced in March 2012 that it had destroyed over 60% of its stockpile – over 24,000 of 40,000 metric tons – and anticipates adequate financing for complete destruction by December 2015. [16]

Missile

Russia retained most of the Former Soviet Union's missile complex (although a significant portion of the construction infrastructure was located in Ukraine), and has been a member of the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) since 1995. Today, it maintains the capability to produce highly sophisticated liquid- and solid-propelled missiles of all ranges.

Recent modernization of its rocket forces has included the development of both silo-based and road-mobile versions of the RS-12M2 Topol-M (NATO designation SS-27) intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), as well as a MIRVed variant of the Topol-M, named the RS-24 Yars, which began deployment with the 54th missile division at Teykovo in 2010.[17]

Russia has, however, encountered technical problems with the development of a new generation of submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBM). Submerged test-firing of the new Bulava SLBM (NATO designation SS-NX-30), begin in December 2005, and the system reportedly failed during seven out of nineteen launches. Nevertheless, the Bulava SLBM received approval to enter active service in June 2012 and is planned for deployment aboard the the new Borey-class ballistic missile submarines.[18] More successful tests have been conducted on a modified version of the R-29RM (NATO designation SS-N-23), known as the Sineva, which has been progressively fitted to Delta-IV SSBNs during their overhaul.

The delivery platform for Russia's air-based deterrent is the Kh-55 air-launched cruise missile (ALCM), deployed on Tu-95MS (Bear H) and Tu-160 (Blackjack) bombers. Russia has been developing a new ALCM, the Kh-102, for a number of years, but the missile has yet to be deployed.[19]

Sources:
[1] The United States and the United Kingdom are the other two NPT depository states.
[2] Robert S. Norris and Thomas B. Cochran, U.S.-USSR/Russian Strategic Offensive Nuclear Forces, 1945-1996 (Washington, DC: National Resources Defense Council, 1997), p. 43.
[3] "New START Treaty Aggregate Numbers of Strategic Offensive Arms," Bureau of Arms Control, Verification and Compliance fact sheet, 3 October, 2012, www.state.gov.
[4] "Global Fissile Material Report 2011," International Panel on Fissile Materials, January 2012, www.fissilematerials.org, pp. 8-9, 17-18.
[5] Jeanne Guillemin, Biological Weapons (New York: Columbia University Press, 2005), p. 132.
[6] Michael Moodie, "The Soviet Union, Russia, and the Biological and Toxic Weapons Convention," The Nonproliferation Review, Spring 2001, p. 60.
[7] Christopher J. Davis, "Nuclear Blindness: An Overview of the Biological Weapons Programs of the Former Soviet Union and Iraq," Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, July 1999, www.cdc.gov.
[8] Gulbarshyn Bozheyeva, Yerlan Kunakbayev and Dastan Yeleukenov, "Former Soviet Biological Weapons Facilities in Kazakhstan: Past, Present, and Future," CNS Occasional Paper, No. 1, June 1999, p. 11.
[9] Sergei Popov and Marina Voronova, "Russian Bioweapons: Still the Best-Kept Secret?" The Nonproliferation Review, Fall-Winter 2004, p. 192.
[10] "Stated Government Policy," Jane's CBRN Assessments, 27 July 2009, www.janes.com.
[11] "Adherence to and Compliance with Arms Control, Nonproliferation, and Disarmament Agreements and Commitments," U.S. Department of State, August 2011.
[12] Judith Miller and William J. Broad, "Iranians, Bioweapons in Mind, Lure Needy Ex-Soviet Scientists," New York Times, 8 December 1998, www.nytimes.com; and Anthony H. Cordesman with Adam Adam C. Seitz, "Iranian Weapons of Mass Destruction: Biological Weapons Program," Center for Strategic and International Studies, 28 October 2008, p. 14.
[13] "Key Facts, Chemical, Russian Federation," Jane's CBRN Assessments, 8 September 2009, www.janes.com.
[14] David E. Hoffman, The Dead Hand (New York: Doubleday, 2009), p. 310.
[15] "Key Facts, Chemical, Russian Federation," Jane's CBRN Assessments, 8 September 2009, www.janes.com.
[16] Rosa Magasumova, "Россия уничтожила 60,4 процента запасов химического оружия" [Russia destroyed 60.4 percent of its chemical weapons stockpiles], ITAR-TASS, 21 March 2012, www.itar-tass.com; "РФ уничтожила более 60% химического оружия" [Russian Federation destroyed over 60% of its chemical weapons], Kommersant Novosti Online, 22 March 2012, www.kommersant.ru.
[17] Pavel Podvig, "Strategic Rocket Forces," Russian Strategic Nuclear Forces, 19 July 2010, www.russianforces.org.
[18] "Russia's Bulava Carrying Sub to Enter Service by June," RIA Novosti, 20 January 2012, en.rian.ru; "Russia's Bulava Missile Hits Test Target," Global Security Newswire, 29 October 2010, http://gsn.nti.org.
[19] Robert S. Norris and Hans Kristensen, "Russia Nuclear Forces, 2010," Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Volume 66, Number 1, January/February 2010, p.78.