Editing Russian Armed Forces (section)

==Nuclear weapons==
{{Main|Russia and weapons of mass destruction}}
[[File:PC-24 «Ярс».JPG|thumb|right|A mobile version of the [[RS-24 Yars]]]]
[[File:«Александр Невский» в Вилючинске.jpg|thumb|right|The [[Borei-class submarine|''Borei''-class submarine]] [[Russian submarine Alexander Nevsky (K-550)|''Alexander Nevsky'']]]]

As of January 2017, the Federation of American Scientists estimated that Russia has approximately 1,765 deployed strategic warheads, and another 2,700 non-deployed strategic and deployed and non-deployed tactical warheads, plus an additional 2,510 warheads awaiting dismantlement.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.armscontrol.org/factsheets/Nuclearweaponswhohaswhat|title=Nuclear Weapons: Who Has What at a Glance|publisher=Armscontrol.org|date=January 2017|access-date=13 April 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180124043430/https://www.armscontrol.org/factsheets/Nuclearweaponswhohaswhat|archive-date=24 January 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> Russia's [[Strategic Rocket Forces]] controls its land-based nuclear warheads, while the Navy controls the submarine based missiles and the Aerospace Forces the air-launched warheads. Russia's nuclear warheads are deployed in four areas:

# Land-based immobile (silos), like [[R-36 (missile)|R-36]] and its replacement [[RS-28 Sarmat]].
# Land-based mobile, like [[RT-2PM2 Topol-M]] and new [[RS-24 Yars]].
# Submarine based, like [[R-29RMU2 Layner]] and [[RSM-56 Bulava]].
# Air-launched warheads of the [[Russian Aerospace Forces]]' [[Long Range Aviation|Long Range Aviation Command]]

The [[military doctrine of Russia]] sees [[NATO]] expansion as one of the threats for the Russian Federation and reserves the right to use nuclear weapons in response to a conventional aggression that can endanger the existence of the state. In keeping with this, the country's nuclear forces received adequate funding throughout the late 1990s.  The number of [[intercontinental ballistic missile]]s and warheads on active duty has declined over the years, in part in keeping with arms limitation agreements with the U.S. and in part due to insufficient spending on maintenance, but this is balanced by the deployment of new missiles as proof against missile defences.<ref name=":2">{{cite web|url=http://www.kremlin.ru|title=Президент России|work=kremlin.ru|access-date=1 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110220001741/http://www.kremlin.ru/|archive-date=20 February 2011|url-status=live}}</ref>

Russia has developed the new [[RT-2PM2 Topol-M]] (SS-27) missiles that a Russian general claimed to be able to penetrate any missile defence, including the planned U.S. [[National Missile Defence]]. The missile can change course in both air and space to avoid countermeasures. It is designed to be launched from land-based, mobile [[transporter-erector-launcher|TEL]] units.<ref name=":2" />

Because of international awareness of the danger that Russian nuclear technology might fall into the hands of terrorists or rogue officers who it was feared might want to use nuclear weapons to threaten or attack other countries, the [[federal government of the United States]] and many other countries provided considerable financial assistance to the Russian nuclear forces in the early 1990s.{{Citation needed|date=February 2012}} This money went in part to finance decommissioning of warheads under international agreements, such the [[Nunn–Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction|Cooperative Threat Reduction]] programme, but also to improve security and personnel training in Russian nuclear facilities.

In the late evening of 11 September 2007, the [[Thermobaric weapon|fuel-air explosive]] AVBPM or "[[Father of All Bombs]]" was successfully [[Live fire exercise|field-tested]].<ref>{{Cite news|last=Solovyov|first=Dmitry|date=11 September 2007|title=Russia tests superstrength bomb, military says|work=Reuters|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-bomb-idUSL1155952320070912|access-date=17 June 2020|archive-date=18 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200618014115/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-bomb-idUSL1155952320070912|url-status=live}}</ref>