How Big Is Russia’s Nuclear Arsenal?

Russia has the largest nuclear arsenal in the world with roughly 6,000 warheads.

Kristensen said most of those warheads are in reserves, with only about 1,600 deployed as land, sea, and air-based weapons, such as missiles in silos or bombs dropped by planes.

It is thought that Russia owns more than half of the world’s 14,000 nuclear weapons.

Over 7,000 nuclear weapons is an alarmingly high figure, but the nation’s stockpile was once even greater; Russia’s predecessor, the Soviet Union, had a peak stockpile of 45,000 nuclear warheads in 1986.

The tools at Russia’s disposal are also shrouded in secrecy, but intelligence estimates make for some pretty scary reading.

The Tsar Bomba – developed by the Soviet Union in the early 60s – is the most powerful nuclear weapon ever created and tested, responsible for the largest man-made explosion in human history.

It had an estimated explosive power of around 50 megatons.

In 2015, information emerged that Russia may be developing a new nuclear torpedo, up to 100 megatons – twice the power of the Tsar Bomba.

The Status-6 Ocean Multipurpose System is thought to have been designed to create a 500 metre tall tsunami wave that can radioactively contaminate wide areas of an enemy’s coastline.