Leaked Russian military files reveal Moscow rehearses tactical nuclear weapons response to Chinese invasion
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Russia has rehearsed using tactical nuclear weapons at an early stage of conflict with a major world power, the Financial Times reported on Feb. 28, citing leaked military files that include training scenarios for an invasion by China.
The cache consists of 29 secret Russian military files drawn up between 2008 and 2014, including scenarios for war-gaming and presentations for naval officers, which discuss operating principles for the use of nuclear weapons.
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“This is the first time that we have seen documents like this reported in the public domain,” said Alexander Gabuev, director of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center in Berlin.
“They show that the operational threshold for using nuclear weapons is pretty low if the desired result can’t be achieved through conventional means.”
Although the files date back 10 years or more, experts claim they remain relevant to current Russian military doctrine. The defensive plans expose deeply held suspicions of China among Moscow’s security elite even, as Putin began forging an alliance with Beijing, which as early as 2001 included a nuclear no-first-strike agreement.
Yet even as the countries became closer, the training materials show Russia’s eastern military district was rehearsing multiple scenarios depicting a Chinese invasion.
One exercise outlining a hypothetical attack by China notes that Russia, dubbed the “Northern Federation” for the purpose of the war game, could respond with a tactical nuclear strike in order to stop “the South” from advancing with a second wave of invading forces.
“The order has been given by the Commander-in-Chief. . . to use nuclear weapons. . . in the event the enemy deploys second-echelon units and the South threatens to attack further in the direction of the main strike,” the document said.
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A separate training presentation for naval officers, unrelated to the China war games, outlines broader criteria for a potential nuclear strike, including an enemy landing on Russian territory, the defeat of units responsible for securing border areas, or an imminent enemy attack using conventional weapons.
The slides summarize the threshold as a combination of factors where losses suffered by Russian forces “would irrevocably lead to their failure to stop major enemy aggression,” which would be a “critical situation for the state security of Russia”.
Other potential conditions include the destruction of 20 per cent of Russia’s strategic ballistic missile submarines, 30 per cent of its nuclear-powered attack submarines, three or more cruisers, three airfields, or a simultaneous hit on main and reserve coastal command centers.
Russia’s military is also expected to use tactical nuclear weapons for a broad array of goals, including “containing states from using aggression […] or escalating military conflicts,” “stopping aggression,” preventing Russian forces from losing battles or territory, and making Russia’s navy “more effective”.
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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
