‘Only a Nuclear Arsenal’ Provides Sufficient Security: Russia’s Medvedev Warns U.S. Attack on Venezuela Makes Deterrence Vital

Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council and former president Dmitry Medvedev has warned that the U.S. attack on Venezuela on January 3 and abduction of President Nicolas Maduro have demonstrated the need for potential targets of Western attacks to focus on strengthening their defensive capabilities. "The operation in Caracas has become the best proof of the fact that any state needs to strengthen its armed forces as much as possible, preventing various rich brazen individuals from easily changing the constitutional order in search of oil or something else," he observed. “Only a nuclear arsenal can provide maximum strengthening, guaranteeing that the country will be reliably protected!” he added, concluding: "Long live nuclear weapons!" This statement was far from isolated, and highlights prevailing thought within Russia as the country has sought to avoid being targeted as others such as Iran, Iraq and Yugoslavia have been. 

Following a sharp decline in its economy and its conventional forces after the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the Russian Defence Ministry allocated over 80 percent of procurement funding to modernising the country’s strategic nuclear forces. Investment in nuclear capabilities further increased from early 1999, after the NATO assault on Yugoslavia raised serious concerns in Moscow regarding the possibility of Western Bloc states launching similar military action against Russia. Despite decline in multiple areas of the Russian conventional forces, from fighter aviation to the surface fleet, the country’s nuclear forces have sustained the their world leading international standing achieved in the Soviet era, combining the largest arsenal and the most advanced and diverse range of delivery vehicles. 

In December 2025 it was revealed that the Russian Defence Ministry State Armaments Program for 2027-2036 was paying specific attention to the modernisation of the country’s nuclear triad and air defences. The country’s nuclear deterrent has continued to be modernised, including at the strategic level with continued production of the Yars and Sarmat intercontinental range ballistic missiles, the Avangard intercontinental range hypersonic glide vehicle, Borei class strategic nuclear submarines and their RSM-56 missiles, and Khabarovsk class strategic nuclear submarines with their 2M39 Poseidon nuclear-armed underwater drones. The ability to manage escalation by employing tactical nuclear weapons has also grown, including through procurement of the Oreshnik intermediate range ballistic missile, the Zircon hypersonic cruise missile, the longer range 9M729 subsonic cruise missile, and the unique unlimited range 9M730 Burevestnik cruise missile.