Russia is training its navy to attack targets deep inside Europe with nuclear-capable missiles in the event of a conflict with NATO, the Financial Times reported, citing secret documents.
Maps showing distant targets such as the west coast of France and Barrow-in-Furness in the UK were part of detailed briefings given to officers ahead of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, according to the report.
Citing the same 29 secret Russian military documents, the news agency had previously reported that Moscow had rehearsed the use of tactical nuclear weapons in the early stages of a conflict with a world power.
The documents, shown to the Financial Times by Western sources, reveal that Russia is planning a major attack across Western Europe in anticipation of a conflict with Western countries spreading beyond NATO borders. The documents, written between 2008 and 2014, include targets for missiles equipped with conventional or tactical nuclear warheads and highlight the early use of a nuclear attack, the Financial Times reported.
The presentation also indicated that Russia could station nuclear weapons on its surface ships, raising the risk of escalating tensions and accidents.
The report noted that the Russian Navy's “high maneuverability” would enable “sudden pre-emptive strikes” and “massive missile attacks from various directions,” adding that nuclear weapons are “in principle” designated to be used “in combination with other destructive means” to achieve Russia's objectives.
According to the Financial Times, analysts who examined the document found that its contents were consistent with NATO's assessment of the threat posed by Russian naval long-range missiles and the possibility of rapid escalation to nuclear use by Russia.
Russian Navy 'keeps eye on' 32 NATO targets
The map, created for display purposes rather than combat use, highlights 32 NATO targets for the Russian naval fleet across Europe.
William Alberk, a former NATO official now at the Stimson Center, told the outlet that the sample was just a small part of “hundreds, possibly thousands, of targets that have been mapped across Europe, including military and critical infrastructure sites.”
Russia's ability to launch attacks across Europe means that any engagement by Russian forces with NATO forces in frontline states such as the Baltic states or Poland would immediately put targets across the continent at risk, the report said, citing analysts and former officials.
“Their view of war is total war,” Jeffrey Lewis, a professor at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in Monterey who studies arms control, was quoted by the Financial Times as saying.
“They see these (tactical nuclear warheads) as weapons that could win a war,” he added. “They're going to want to use them, and they're going to want to use them pretty quickly.”
Tactical nuclear weapons, deployed by ground- or sea-launched missiles or airborne vehicles, have a shorter range and less destructive power than larger “strategic” weapons aimed at the United States.
Still, far more energy is released than was used in Nagasaki and Hiroshima in 1945.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has frequently used threats against Ukraine's European allies to thwart Western support for Kiev. “They need to remember that they are a small, densely populated country,” he said in May.
Planning the demonstration strike
According to the report, the presentation also discussed the possibility of a “demonstration strike” to detonate a nuclear weapon in a remote location to intimidate Western countries before an actual conflict.
While Russia has not officially acknowledged the tactic, the file says such an attack would demonstrate “the availability and readiness of precision non-strategic nuclear weapons” and “the intent to use nuclear weapons.”
“They hope that the fear of Russia using nuclear weapons will be the magic key that unlocks Western acquiescence,” Alberg, former director of NATO's Centre for Arms Control, Disarmament and Non-Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction, told the Financial Times.
Fabian Hofmann, a postdoctoral researcher specialising in nuclear policy at the University of Oslo, told the Financial Times that the combination of nuclear and conventional strikes outlined in the presentation was meant to send a signal to adversaries to negotiate as tensions rise.
NATO estimates that its member states have less than 5 percent of the air defense capability they need to protect the alliance's eastern flank from a full-scale Russian attack, and Putin argued in June that this would leave Europe “more or less defenseless” against a Russian missile attack.
Dara Massicot of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace said Russian strategists believe nuclear weapons would be crucial in the early stages of a conflict with NATO because of Russia's limited conventional weapons resources.
“They just don't have enough missiles,” the Financial Times quoted her as saying.
The leaked documents also reveal that Russia retains the ability to station tactical nuclear weapons on its surface ships, despite a 1991 agreement with the United States to eliminate such capabilities. The documents list nuclear-tipped anti-submarine missiles and ship-based guided anti-aircraft missiles among these assets.
Alberque stressed the risks of carrying nuclear weapons on surface ships, which are more vulnerable to storm damage and enemy attack than strategic ballistic missile submarines.
Recent exercises ordered by Putin have also included equipping Kaliningrad's Tarantul-class corvettes with Soviet-era P-270 anti-ship missiles with nuclear warheads, suggesting the leaked documents reflect current Russian military doctrine.
According to the Financial Times, footage from these drills shows Russian troops practicing procedures for handling nuclear warheads, indicating that preparations are underway for potential use.
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