Russia illegally occupied, and then annexed, Crimea in March 2014. The Kremlin asserts that, since Crimea now supposedly is a part of Russia—a claim virtually no one outside of Moscow accepts—there is no prohibition on placing nuclear weapons there.
Vladimir Putin has approved basing two dual-capable systems in Crimea: the Iskander-M short-range ballistic missile and Backfire bomber. It is not clear, however, whether the Iskander missile has been deployed, and the Russian defense ministry has said it does not plan to deploy the Backfire until 2016. There is a separate question as to whether the Russians have deployed or will deploy in Crimea nuclear warheads for these systems.
As the Ukraine crisis has played out, Putin has engaged in nuclear chest-thumping. Why is not clear. Who does not understand that Russia has lots of nuclear weapons? Part of the reason may be that the nuclear arsenal is Moscow's sole claim to superpower status.
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