Nuclear arsenal will increase in the world for the first time since the Cold War – SIPRI

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) has announced in a new report that the global nuclear arsenal will increase for the first time since the Cold War.

Reuters and Deutsche Welle write about it.

alarming situation

As noted, the risk of using nuclear weapons is the greatest in recent decades. At the same time, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Western support for Kyiv have heightened tensions between the world’s nine nuclear states.

Although the number of nuclear weapons declined slightly between January 2021 and January 2022, SIPRI said that if nuclear powers do not take immediate action, global stockpiles of warheads could soon begin to rise for the first time in decades.

“All states possessing nuclear weapons (Russia, USA, China, France, UK, Pakistan, India, Israel and North Korea – ed.), build up or modernize their arsenals. Most of them are toughening up nuclear rhetoric and the role of nuclear weapons in their military strategies,” said Wilfred Wang, director of the SIPRI WMD program.

Russia has the largest nuclear arsenal in the world, with 5,977 warheads, about 550 more than the United States. The two countries own more than 90% of the world’s warheads, although SIPRI said China is in the “expansion process” with about 300 new missile silos.

SIPRI said the global number of nuclear warheads has dropped to 12,705 in January 2022 from 13,080 in January 2021. Approximately 3,732 warheads were deployed with missiles and aircraft, and about 2,000—almost all Russian or US-owned—were on high alert.

“Relations between the world’s great powers have deteriorated further at a time when humanity and the planet are facing a number of deep and urgent common problems that can only be solved through international cooperation,” said Stefan Lofven, Chairman of the Board of SIPRI and former Prime Minister of Sweden.

The report also notes, according to Deutsche Welle, that in the next decade the world is waiting for a new round of the nuclear arms race.

“There are clear signs that the post-Cold War downsizing of nuclear arsenals is over,” said Hans Christensen, SIPRI’s lead expert on nuclear weapons.

At the same time, experts from the Stockholm Institute make the reservation that there is no unity among experts on what should be classified as tactical nuclear weapons. In general, the Russian non-strategic nuclear forces, in their opinion, are aimed at leveling the weakness of the conventional part of the armaments of the Russian army – and leveling the nuclear parity of the Russian Federation with the United States.

DW infographic.

Other countries

Great Britain announced the expansion of its nuclear arsenal. London has previously criticized Russia and China for their unwillingness to publish full statistics on their nuclear programs, but DW writes that now the UK itself has announced that it will classify data on its own nuclear weapons.

At the same time, France last year announced the start of the development of a new, third generation of submarines with nuclear weapons on board. India, Pakistan and Israel are also implementing various modernization programs – moreover, the Israeli side does not officially confirm or deny the presence of nuclear weapons.

As noted, North Korea has put nuclear weapons at the center of its own national security doctrine over the past year. The country has not conducted nuclear tests in the past 12 months, but SIPRI estimates the country’s nuclear capability at about 20 warheads.

Earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russia openly threatened to strike and turn the European capital into nuclear ashes. This is happening, he says, because there is a sense of impunity in the Kremlin – especially after the start of a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Also, US President Joe Biden said what would happen if Russia uses nuclear weapons.