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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
Moscow has been building up its deployed nuclear arsenal for the fourth year in a row.
Russia for the fourth consecutive year has increased the number of nuclear warheads placed on nuclear delivery vehicles. This is according to data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), The Moscow Times reports.
As of 2026, Russia's nuclear arsenal, according to SIPRI, numbered 5420 warheads. Of them, 2604 were in storage, 1020 belonged to the decommissioned category, and 1796 were deployed on missiles and bombers.
The number of deployed warheads (deployed warheads) for the year increased by 78 units. At the same time in the United States, whose nuclear arsenal by scale can be compared with Russia's, this indicator did not change — 1770, as in the previous year.
France and the United Kingdom also did not increase the number of deployed nuclear warheads — it is 280 and 170 respectively.
China increased the number of deployed warheads, but theirs in Beijing are still few: 34 compared with 24 in 2025 year. In addition, India for the first time transferred 12 warheads to the deployed state. Overall, SIPRI estimates that India has 190 nuclear warheads, China — 620.
The number of deployed nuclear warheads of Russia has been rising every year since the start of the full-scale war against Ukraine. In 2022, there were 1588, in the 2023 year — 1674, in the 2024 year — 1710, in the 2025 year — 1718, and in the 2026 year — already 1796.
Compared with the 2020 year, the Kremlin increased the number of land-based nuclear warheads on missiles by 14%, or by 226 units, bringing it to the highest level since 2017 year. Then, according to SIPRI, Russia had 1950 deployed warheads.
Russia's land-based forces, consisting of underground and mobile missile systems, are capable of carrying up to 1092 warheads. Currently, 892 are deployed on them, the remainder are in storage, SIPRI reports.
Thirteen strategic submarines of the Northern and Pacific fleets can collectively carry 208 missiles and 928 warheads, the institute's experts counted.
At the same time, two submarines are undergoing a major overhaul, so the actual number of warheads available to the fleet is 704.
Another 586 warheads, SIPRI notes, are intended for strategic bombers. This is lower than the maximum possible 650 warheads that Russia's strategic aviation can carry.
SIPRI emphasizes that only a portion of Russia's strategic bombers are in working condition. The institute also recalls that in 2025 the Russian Aerospace Forces suffered “operational losses” due to Ukrainian strikes.
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "Росія наростила кількість розгорнутих ядерних боєголовок до максимуму з 2017 року". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: ZN.ua.
