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STORY: Russia, which inherited the Soviet Union's nuclear weapons, has the world's biggest store of nuclear warheads.

(Dmitry Kiselyov, Journalist) "Are we really ready for nuclear war?"

(Vladimir Putin, Russian President) “From the technical point of view, of course we are ready.”

President Vladimir Putin recently said Russia was "ready" for a nuclear war with the West and that if the United States sent troops to Ukraine the move would be considered a significant escalation of the war.

Here are some key facts about Russia's nuclear arsenal.

Putin controls about 5,580 nuclear warheads, according to the Federation of American Scientists.

Of those about 1,200 are retired but largely intact and around 4,380 are stockpiled for use by long-range strategic launchers and shorter-range tactical nuclear forces.

Such numbers mean that Moscow could destroy the world many times over.

(Putin) "I think that no person in their right mind and clear memory would think of using nuclear weapons against Russia."

The United States said in its 2022 Nuclear Posture Review that Russia and China were expanding and modernizing their nuclear forces.

In February, Putin said that 95% of all of Russia's nuclear forces had been modernized.

"Serial production of the new hypersonic 'Zircon' missiles has begun. Tests of other missile complexes are being completed."

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia has not carried out a nuclear test.

The country signed the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test Ban Treaty in 1996 and ratified it four years later.

The U.S. also signed the treaty in 1996 ...but has not yet ratified it.

Putin has said Russia would consider testing a nuclear weapon if the U.S. did, and in 2023, he signed a law withdrawing Russia's ratification of the treaty.

The Russian president is the ultimate decision maker on the use of nuclear weapons.

The so-called nuclear briefcase is with the president at all times.

The Russian defense minister and the chief of the general staff are also thought to have such briefcases.

If Russia thought it faced a strategic nuclear attack, the president would send a direct launch order – via the briefcases – to general staff command and reserve command units that hold nuclear codes.

Such orders then cascade swiftly to strategic rocket forces, which then fire at the U.S. and Europe.

(Putin) “If the territorial integrity of our country is threatened, we will without question use all the means at our disposal to protect Russia and our people. This is not a bluff."