Russia

Great headway has been made since the end of the Cold War in shrinking the Russian and US nuclear arsenals. But between them, the United States and Russia still have more than 14,000 nuclear weapons — over 93% of the world's stockpile. More than three thousand of them remain on high alert, meaning they can be launched in a matter of minutes.

Reducing these nuclear stockpiles help increase global stability, build the international non-proliferation regime and reduce the chances that nuclear materials will fall into the hands of terrorists. Instead, Russia and the United States are now on the brink of a new arms race to rebuild their nuclear arsenals.

Latest News and Analysis on Russia and Nuclear Weapons

My First Grant: Cynthia Lazaroff

Cynthia Lazaroff is an award-winning filmmaker and founder of NuclearWakeUpCall.Earth, a nonprofit organization dedicated to catalyzing efforts in US-Russian relations to reduce the escalating nuclear danger, and to working with people in all countries to move toward a world without nuclear...

March 16, 2021 - By Ploughshares Fund
The Nuclear Arsenal Problem You Never Saw Coming

Former Defense Secretary William J. Perry lambasted the policy of presidential sole authority over the nation’s nuclear weapons, saying it was “in complete contrast with the Constitution, which reserved for Congress the right to declare war.” The issue of nuclear control was back in the news...

October 20, 2020 - By Zack Brown
Iran's nuclear program, new Russian weapons, and Congress's return to Washington

MICHELLE: Welcome back to Early Warning. Today I am joined by Leon Ratz, Senior Program Officer in the Materials Risk Management program at the Nuclear Threat Initiative, and Mary Kaszynski, Ploughshares’s very own Deputy Director of Policy. Thank you both for joining me. MARY: Thanks. LEON:...

September 12, 2019 - By Ploughshares Fund
Lynn Rusten on Press the Button

This is a transcript of a recent interview from the podcast Press the Button. Lynn Rusten, Vice President of the Global Nuclear Policy Program at the Nuclear Threat Initiative, sits down with Joe Cirincione to discuss the history of arms control between the United States and Russia, and how the...

August 28, 2019 - By Ploughshares Fund
Nuclear explosion in Russia, US and Europe's differing Iran policy

MICHELLE: Thank you, Joe. Welcome back to another Early Warning. I'm Michelle Dover and I'm joined today by Deputy Director of Policy here at Ploughshares, Mary Kaszynski, and Global Zero's Program Director, Jessica Sleight. Thank you both for joining me. So you know the drill. We have seven...

August 13, 2019 - By Ploughshares Fund
INF Treaty Withdrawal

The Trump administration's announcement of withdrawal from the INF Treaty, a key nuclear arms control agreement between the United States and Russia, is a major blow to the nuclear security safety net constructed over several decades. The withdrawal will likely further thrust the US and Russia...

February 1, 2019 - By Ploughshares Fund
Arms Control in the Age of Trump: Lessons from the Nuclear Freeze Movement

At this very moment, the United States and Russia are locked in a nuclear embrace. Our collective fates — and those of the rest of the world — are entangled in a mesh of ballistic missiles, nuclear submarines, and strategic bombers. Together, the US and Russia control more than 90% of the world’...

December 14, 2016 - By Anonymous
New Report: 10 Big Nuclear Ideas for the Next President

President-elect Donald Trump will soon have to focus seriously on nuclear policy. With this in mind, Ploughshares Fund invited some of the best thinkers in the field to come up with ten bold ideas to help make America safer and more secure. ...

November 14, 2016 - By Tom Collina
Russia, US and Nuclear "Modernization"

“The horror and reactions to the Paris massacre have overshadowed a troubling new twist in the US-Russian rivalry that could prove even more terrifying,” warns Joe Cirincione in the Huffington Post. “Russian state media recently ‘accidentally’ revealed plans for a bizarre new nuclear...

December 9, 2015 - By Will Lowry
A New Arms Race Threatens to Bring the US and Russia Back to the Nuclear Brink

The horror and reactions to the Paris massacre have overshadowed a troubling new twist in the U.S.-Russian rivalry that could prove even more terrifying. Russian state media recently “accidentally” revealed plans for a bizarre new nuclear torpedo.

November 23, 2015 - By Joe Cirincione