Tensions are rising despite the fact that the number of nuclear weapons in the world continues to decline. 

Russia and the United States still have more than 90 percent of nuclear weapons. They replace old ones and build new ones.

They have also given new and extended missions to nuclear weapons in their military plans and doctrines. They can use them against conventional weapons or in defense of foreign powers' cyberattacks, according to the US Nuclear Posture Review in 2018.

- The new thing is that it points to the possibility of responding with nuclear weapons to a large-scale government-backed cyber attack on critical US infrastructure. And that's something new, says Shannon Kile, who heads the research on nuclear weapons at Stockholm's International Peace Research Institute Sipri.

Russian nuclear submarine Orel sailed into the Russian Navy's anniversary in the Baltic Sea on July 29, 2018. The submarine has the capacity for 24 cruise missiles and carried nuclear weapons, FOI stated after the visit. Photo: AFP / Olga Maltseva

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Over the next 30 years, the United States is projected to invest a huge $ 1.2 to $ 1.7 trillion on its nuclear weapons and talks about new test blasts.

Russia is developing and deploying new nuclear weapons systems with super-fast hypersonic robots and the underwater drone Poseidon, which will carry nuclear weapons and will be tested this fall, Russia said, which had serious nuclear accidents in the summer of 2019.

- The hypersonic robot became operational a few months ago. It's new. But Poseidon is a big question mark, says Shannon Kile.

Other nuclear weapons states have much smaller arsenals. But they are developing or deploying new weapons systems, or have said they should. Nuclear weapons are becoming increasingly important.

"This is a significant breach of the trend that has prevailed since the Cold War with the gradual marginalization of nuclear weapons and nuclear doctrines," says Shannon Kile.

HERE you can explore the world's nuclear weapons.

Shannon Kile, director of Sipri's research on nuclear disarmament, arms limitation and non-proliferation. Photo: Erik Dedenvind, SVT

Agreement in progress 

As nuclear powers build new weapons, negotiations between the United States and Russia on arms control and restrictions have more or less collapsed.

"In these times of ever-increasing geopolitical tensions, the absence of useful measures to monitor nuclear weapons arenas and to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons and nuclear material is a particularly worrying development," says Shannon Kile.

- The era of bilateral arms restriction treaties between Russia and the United States may be about to end.