There are “colossal threats” facing Russia that necessitate a major upgrade of the country’s nuclear shield, Moscow’s nuclear chief said Thursday.
The striking comments from Alexei Likhachev, director general of Russia’s State Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom, come at a crucial moment on several fronts.
NATO is weighing a deployment of ground troops to eastern Ukraine to enforce any ceasefire deal with Russia, which could be viewed by the Kremlin as a threat to its security. And the Trump administration is moving ahead with its Golden Dome missile shield, a cutting-edge project that aims to put in place space-based interceptors and other capabilities to stop potential missile attacks by China, Russia or other adversaries.
Mr. Likhachev did not explicitly mention either of those issues in his comments, cited by the Russian state-run news agency RIA.
“Now, in the current geopolitical situation, is a time of colossal threats to the existence of our country. Therefore, the nuclear shield, which is also a sword, is a guarantee of our sovereignty,” he said, according to English-language translations of his comments.
“We understand today that the nuclear shield must only be improved in the coming years,” he said.
Russia is the world’s leading nuclear power with more than 5,400 nuclear warheads, according to publicly available figures.
The comments from Mr. Likhachev, while not referencing Golden Dome specifically, could be seen as an indication that Russia views the U.S. project as a threat. Chinese officials have made critical comments as well about the Golden Dome. A recent Air Force think tank report said that China is actively working against the project.
