Russian official Konstantin Sivkov, speaking in state media recently, suggested that the country should significantly expand its military arsenal and deploy more “heavy” nuclear weapons.
The specter of a nuclear attack by Russia has been ever-present for much of the recent armed conflict with Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin, as well as numerous other Kremlin officials and allies, have frequently hinted at such a possibility since the invasion began, typically to instill strength. In turn, Western leaders have strongly and consistently urged Russia not to use nuclear weapons, warning that such action could have unprecedented consequences.
On Friday night, Russian Media Monitor, a monitoring group that translates and reports on Russian state newscasts, released a clip of Sivkov, a retired colonel and now deputy president of the Russian Academy of Rocket and Artillery Sciences, urging the country to significantly strengthen its nuclear arsenal. He also went so far as to suggest “blow up the North Pole if that’s necessary to teach the West a lesson,” as Julia Davis, founder of Russian Media Monitor, noted on Twitter.
“Personally, I’m in favor of us starting the full-scale, massive development of strategic nuclear weapons,” Sivkov said. “These weapons will provide all-round protection against virtually any attack on our country… We should also move to unconventional forms of nuclear weapon use, including highly-resilient nuclear warheads that can have serious geophysical implications.”
A Russian nuclear missile is seen during a military parade. A Russian official recently said the country should look for ways to demonstrate its nuclear capabilities to repel attacks from other nations.Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images
Sivkov was reluctant when asked if he was suggesting that Russia “use” these nuclear weapons, suggesting that Russia should somehow use them in a way that publicizes their existence.
“There can be different ways,” he continued. “If things get particularly acute, we could demonstrate it at the North Pole. Blowing it up like we did with our 58 megaton machine on Novaya Zemlya, everything was normal, it went well. It had a good pedagogical impact.”
Speaking to Newsweek on Saturday, Daniel Davis, a retired US Army lieutenant colonel, said that while Sivkov had a high level of experience, he could not speak for the majority of the Russian people or for what Putin might be thinking.
“Sivkov is a highly experienced and influential speaker/writer in Russia and represents the hard-line, nationalist element in Russia,” Davis wrote. However, he does not represent a large percentage of the Russian population, and even less does he know the thoughts of the only man in Russia who matters on such nuclear issues – Vladimir Putin. Still, given the comments made by Putin this year on the use of nuclear weapons, and those of former President Dmitry Medvedev, there is a growing willingness on the part of Russians to be free in discussing the use of nuclear weapons, dismissing all Russian talks about nuclear weapons as talk that should be ignored.”
He continued: “The truth is that the easier it is to talk about using nuclear weapons, the lower the threshold for their eventual use. It should scare everyone on both sides of the equation to death about the possibility of using an arsenal of nuclear weapons, be they so-called “tactical” nuclear weapons or even testing them near the North Pole, as Sivkov has suggested here ic for humanity. The stakes are actually that high.”
Recently, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, an exiled Russian businessman and opposition figure, said that Putin would not deploy nuclear weapons in Ukraine because it would severely hamper his ability to continue the fight there.
“Putin is approaching a line beyond which one should not go,” Khodorkovsky said in a video shared on Twitter last month. “What does it mean to use nuclear weapons there, in Ukraine? He immediately loses the possibility of parallel imports. Without parallel imports, its ability to manufacture ammunition will end within a few months.”
“Parallel imports” refers to Russia’s exploitation of import gaps to continue receiving Western materials despite heavy sanctions from Western countries.
Updated 7/22/2023 5:55 PM ET: This article has been updated to include a comment by Davis.