Russian Strategic Missile Forces to Launch Seven ICBMs in 2024 - Defense Ministry

Russia and the United States remain the world's two nuclear superpowers, with their stockpiles accounting for about nine-tenths of all strategic weapons on the planet.

Russia's Strategic Missile Forces plan to conduct seven launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) in 2024, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Sunday.

"This year, the Strategic Missile Forces plan to conduct seven launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles. Over the past five years, the Strategic Missile Forces have carried out over 20 launches of ICBMs as part of flight tests of advanced missile systems and exercises in managing the Russian armed forces," the Ministry said in a statement.

Amid heightened tensions stemming from the US pullout from numerous treaties meant to safeguard against a strategic escalation and after Ukrainian attempts to attack a Russian nuclear bomber base, Moscow has pledged to inform its counterparts in Washington of all strategic-level tests ahead of time to avoid a nuclear escalation.

In December, Russian Strategic Missile Forces Commander Sergei Karakaev said that Russia and the US had agreed to provide one another with at least 24 hours of advance warning ahead of the test launch of any ICBMs or submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs).

Russia's nuclear deterrent - consisting of ground-based mobile and silo-based missiles, sub-launched missiles and payloads deliverable by strategic bombers, has undergone a multi-trillion ruble modernization over the past decade. The program has included replacing older legacy missiles with Yars and Sarmat ICBMs, RSM-56 Bulava SLBMs and Burevestnik nuclear-powered cruise missiles, and ship and air-launched strategic weapons with a complement of nuclear-armable, maneuverable, hypersonic missiles like the Zircon, Kinzhal and Avangard.

Russia's nuclear doctrine forbids Moscow from using nuclear weapons of any sort unless the country comes under attack using nuclear, chemical or biological weapons, or in the event of an act of conventional aggression so great that it threatens the country's survival. The US - the only nation in the world to have ever used nuclear weapons against an enemy, presently has no such restrictions on its strategic doctrine, with the latest Nuclear Posture Review allowing for preemptive attacks even against non-nuclear armed adversaries.

The US walked out of the Anti-Ballistic Treaty in 2002, scrapped the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty in 2019, and threatened to allow the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) to expire without renewal in early 2021. Russia suspended its participation in New START last February, citing attacks by NATO-backed Ukrainian forces on an airfield basing Russian nuclear bombers, but has pledged to continue abiding by the agreement's terms so long as the US also does so. New START is expected to expire in 2026, with the US previously indicating that it wants to include China's nuclear arsenal into any future agreement. Beijing has balked at such proposals.