The headlines sound scary: “Putin deploys nuclear ships” is the headline of the newspaper “Bild”. “Warning: Putin is letting the nuclear-armed fleet run out in the Baltic Sea,” writes the Austrian online portal Express, calling it “events the world has not seen since the Cold War.”
“For the first time in 30 years, Russia is deploying ships with nuclear weapons in the Baltic Sea”, warns the Microsoft news portal “msn”. But the dramatic reports are apparently the result of incorrect translations of a magazine – which many media outlets have further publicized.
All refer to the current annual report of the Norwegian secret service. From this it is clear that the nuclear deterrence of its northern fleet in the far northern Arctic waters is becoming increasingly important for Russia. “An essential part of the nuclear capability resides in the Northern Fleet’s submarines and surface ships,” says the report.
But the report says nothing about a scenario where Russian warships with nuclear missiles on board are being “deployed”.
The news that Russia has allowed its nuclear ships to sail is likely based on an article in Politico magazine on January 14th. The headline of the first version of the article: “Russia Uses Ships With Nuclear Weapons For First Time In 30 Years.” Apparently, various media outlets have embraced the same thing.
The statements were reversed: now the same “Politico” article quotes a senior researcher at the UN Institute for Research on Disarmament, Pavel Podvig. He says it is “highly unlikely” that the Norwegian intelligence report could be interpreted to mean that Russia has deployed ships armed with tactical nuclear weapons.
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Nuclear weapons expert Frank Sauer also thinks these fears are overblown in an interview with ZDFheute: “Russia’s tactical nuclear weapons, including those based at sea, are stored centrally. If this fleet had actually been equipped with nuclear weapons, then Western intelligence really should have watched him.”
But why is nuclear deterrence by warships seemingly becoming increasingly important for Russia? “The intelligence report also states that the Russian army has drastically reduced its conventional forces on the Kola peninsula by one-fifth,” explains Sauer. “Russia wants to use the nuclear saber to compensate for its conventional inferiority.” Nuclear deterrence therefore remains the highest priority for Russia – “it will continue to give us headaches in the long term”, Sauer said. Because Russia is constantly expanding its nuclear capabilities, according to the Norwegian intelligence report.
“There are crazy weapons projects like ‘Poseidon’, an underwater nuclear drone,” explains Sauer. The torpedo presented five years ago is capable of devastating entire coastal regions – through tsunamis and radioactivity. Now, for the first time, a submarine will be equipped with it. “Even at the worst of the Cold War, you would think this was crazy,” says Sauer. “This rearmament is completely out of control in Russia.”