As of: January 25, 2024, 10:07 p.m
By: Tadhg Nagel
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Press
Split
There are more and more nuclear weapons around the world.
Now Russia is developing a simulator that trains soldiers for nuclear emergencies.
Concern is growing.
Moscow - Russian scientists have apparently developed a simulator that is intended to train ground troops for combat missions with nuclear weapons.
Moscow is thus further fueling fears of nuclear escalation.
According to a report by the Kremlin-affiliated
Tass
news agency , the simulator was developed at the Russian Military Academy of Logistics.
According to the agency, the device provides “a clear simulation of the visual characteristics – impact effect, flash of light and mushroom-shaped dust cloud – of a ground-based nuclear explosion.”
“Exercises and practical training” - Russia wants to train troops for nuclear war
The invention should be used in “exercises and practical training with military units”.
In this way, one could “improve the quality of training of ground forces for combat operations in connection with nuclear weapons.”
Chemical and biological reconnaissance units could also benefit from the device.
It helps “to determine the parameters and identify the epicenter of a nuclear explosion,” according to the report.
Vladimir Putin is arming himself with nuclear weapons - even if he doesn't want to use the weapons.
© IMAGO/Vyacheslav Prokofyev
The new simulator will replace the IU-59 nuclear explosion simulator, which is outdated according to
Tass
.
The Moscow military also uses the IAB-500 nuclear simulator, which imitates the combat use of an RN-24 bomb, a thermonuclear bomb.
However, this was developed “only for use at the front”.
Therefore, the use of the device for training military units dealing with radiation, chemical and biological reconnaissance is “not economically feasible.”
The nuclear risk has increased with the Ukraine war - despite Putin's clear red line
In view of the tensions surrounding the war in Ukraine, the risk of a nuclear conflict has recently increased.
Russian President Vladimir Putin sparked concern last year when Moscow announced it would move some of its nuclear weapons arsenal to Belarus.
The ruler there, President Alexander Lukashenko, is a close ally of the Kremlin.
In July 2023, Putin said that transferring tactical nuclear weapons under Minsk's control was "an element of deterrence so that all those who want to inflict strategic defeat on us do not overlook this fact."
In doing so, he directly threatened the United States and other NATO members who have supported Kiev's military.
At the same time, however, the Russian head of state emphasized that they had no intention of using the weapons - they simply saw no need to do so.
In addition, the mere consideration of such a possibility contributes to lowering “the threshold for the use of such weapons”.
The political scientist Lawrence Freedman writes in a report by the British research institute International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) that Putin has defined “his nuclear red line” consistently and restrictively.
It is the direct intervention of NATO troops in the war in Ukraine.
As long as this line is not crossed, the risk of nuclear escalation is low, said Freedman.
The international community is concerned about nuclear armament - the USA and Russia are building new nuclear weapons
Nevertheless, nuclear armament has become increasingly worrying for the international community in recent years.
According to the website of the
Federal Agency for Civic Education,
nuclear arms control has been “in a process of erosion” since 2012 at the latest.
Since Moscow rejected then-US President Barack Obama's offer this year, there has been no new agreement on bilateral reductions in permitted deployed strategic nuclear weapons beyond New START.
This treaty also almost expired because Donald Trump made the approval of the agreement subject to further conditions during his time as US President.
His successor Joe Biden finally extended the contract a few days before it expired.
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What is the New START Agreement?
The New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) is a bilateral disarmament agreement between the United States and Russia.
The agreement was signed in Prague on April 8, 2010 and entered into force on February 5, 2011.
It is a successor agreement to the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START I), which was concluded in 1991 between the USA and the former Soviet Union.
The main goal of New START is to limit the number of strategic nuclear weapons of both countries.
It stipulates that both the United States and Russia must reduce their maximum strategic nuclear warheads to 1,550.
It also contains monitoring and transparency provisions that allow the parties to review each other's nuclear activities.
Both Russia and the USA, the world's largest nuclear powers, are currently working on new nuclear weapons.
Together, both countries have around 89 percent of the entire nuclear weapons stockpile.
Vladimir Putin signed a law in November last year that overturns Russia's ratification of a key nuclear treaty - the 1996 Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban (CTBT) - and opens up the possibility for the Kremlin to conduct new nuclear weapons tests.
(tpn)