“The only risk of Putin using a nuclear weapon in Ukraine is if he & his minions are sure there will be no response” – wrote the chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov.
“Every Russian sub commander should know they will be eliminated instantly should they fire one.” – added the chess player.
There are nine countries in the world that have nuclear weapons. Five of them are referred to as “nuclear-weapon states” in the Non-Proliferation Treaty. These countries are the United States, Russia, Great Britain, France and the People’s Republic of China.
NPT – States possessing nuclear weapons in accordance with international agreements (People’s Republic of China, France, Russia, Great Britain, United States)
Other nuclear-weapon states (India, Pakistan, North Korea)
States unofficially possessing nuclear weapons (Israel)
NATO countries covered by the policy of making nuclear weapons available (Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Turkey)
Countries that have had nuclear weapons in the past (Belarus, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, South Africa)
Since the entry into force of the NPT in 1970, three countries have not participated in it and have conducted nuclear tests: India, Pakistan, and North Korea. Korea was a member of the non-proliferation treaty, but withdrew in 2003. In addition, Israel is also the unofficial owner of nuclear weapons. Israel has around 80 nuclear warheads, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. In turn, according to Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, in 2014 there were about 10,144 warheads around the world. This amount is almost seven times lower than at the end of the 1980s, when about 70,000 were in use in the world, 45,000 of which belonged to the Soviet Union.