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

  • John Bolton's Nuclear Fantasy

    John Bolton told Jon Stewart he wanted America to be the only nation with nuclear weapons. Stewart is the comedian, but this policy is the joke.

    July 30, 2009 - By Joe Cirincione

  • Bargaining chip or gas mask

    The Carnegie Council examines the critical and evolving U.S.-Russia relationship in its new program on U.S. Global Engagement.

    July 21, 2009 - By Sarah Brown

  • A World of Possibilities

    Joe discusses U.S. and Russian nuclear reductions with Mark Sommer on "A World of Possibilities".

    Listen Below:

    July 15, 2009 - By Ploughshares Fund

  • Obama puts nuclear weapons at the top of the list

    Writing in the Wall Street Journal  today, Peter Speigel says that "President Barack Obama has moved nuclear deterrence to the top of the national security agenda -- and in his dealings in the past month with Iran, North Korea and Russia, revealed the issue to be an organizing principle to his foreign policy."

    July 15, 2009 - By Deborah Bain

  • Ploughshares Fund and Joe Cirincione honored in Moscow

    Ploughshares Fund President Joseph Cirincione was recognized for his "achievements in the area of WMD nonproliferation" by the PIR Center in Russia at a ceremony marking the organization's 15th anniversary. 

    July 8, 2009 - By Deborah Bain

  • An Obama Doctrine Emerges in Moscow

     ABC News called President Barack Obama's trip to Russia a "breakthrough" and the new agreement to cut nuclear arms "extraordinary." Henry Kissinger compared Obama to a chess master

    July 8, 2009 - By Joe Cirincione

  • Common Purpose: Financial Times

    By James Blitz and Stefan Wagstyl
    [Excerpt]

    The drive to reduce nuclear stockpiles is, however, the pre-eminent theme of this summit, the subject where the US and Russian leaderships have a chance to demonstrate a spirit of common purpose. Arms control is one of the few issues in global politics where they know they dominate the agenda. The two hold 95 per cent of the world’s nuclear arsenals between them and – in the 1970s and early 1990s – they went a long way to reducing their stockpiles...

    July 7, 2009 - By Deborah Bain

  • Nuclear powers come in from the cold

    In an article for The Guardian, Ploughshares grantee Rebecca Johnson of the Acronym Institute for Disarmamen

    July 7, 2009 - By Sarah Brown

  • U.S. and Russia to reduce arsenals

    President Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev reached a preliminary agreement to cut American and Russian nuclear arsenals by as much as a third, instructing negotiators to draft a new accord to maintain critical verification mechanisms of the 1991

    July 7, 2009 - By Sarah Brown

  • The Rachel Maddow Show

    Joe discusses the Moscow Summit on the Rachel Maddow Show with guest anchor Alison Stewart.

    July 7, 2009 - By Ploughshares Fund