Russia and weapons of mass destruction

The Russian Federation possesses the world's largest arsenal of nuclear weapons, consisting of 5,420 nuclear warheads, of which 1,794 have been deployed. It also inherited the expansive Soviet biological and chemical weapons programs, and is suspected to have continued them. It is one of the five nuclear-weapon states recognized under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and one of the five countries wielding a nuclear triad. It inherited its weapons and treaty obligations from the Soviet Union. Russia has been alleged to violate the Biological Weapons Convention and Chemical Weapons Convention.

As of 2025, Russia's triad of strategic nuclear weapons, at approximately 2,832 weapons, comprises 1,254 warheads on its Strategic Rocket Forces' 333 intercontinental ballistic missiles, 992 warheads on its Navy's 192 RSM-56 Bulava and R-29RMU Sineva/Lajner submarine-launched ballistic missiles, on twelve Delfin and Borei-class submarines, and 586 cruise missiles or bombs, for delivery by Long Range Aviation's 67 Tupolev Tu-160 and Tu-95 strategic bombers. Russia also possesses the world's largest arsenal of tactical nuclear weapons, approximately 1,500, which can be delivered by land, sea, and air-launched weapons. The Russian Space Forces oversee early warning and ballistic missile defense, operating radars such as Voronezh and Don-2N, the Oko and EKS satellites, and the anti-ballistic missile A-135, S-400, and S-300 systems, all of which can themselves be tipped with nuclear warheads.

Russia's predecessor state, the Soviet Union, held the largest nuclear arsenal in history, at 45,000 nuclear warheads in 1986. Russia and the United States together hold 88% of the world's nuclear weapons.