Russia's nuclear fleet at 'full combat readiness,' Kremlin says

Russia's naval strategic nuclear forces are prepared for combat in any maritime sector, Kremlin aide Nikolai Patrushev said on July 15 in an interview with the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti.

Presidential aide Nikolai Patrushev, former chief of the FSB intelligence agency as well as secretary of the Security Council, is the head of Russia's Maritime Collegium — a body created by Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2024 and tasked with preserving Moscow's naval dominance. His remarks come as Ukraine wages a sustained drone campaign against Russian shipping in the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea.

"The Russian Navy is capable of ensuring the country's security across all maritime and oceanic theaters under any scenario," Patrushev claimed. "Our naval strategic nuclear forces maintain a state of full combat readiness."

Patrushev said that Russia was prepared to defend its national interests both near its borders and in "various regions of the global ocean." He claimed that the Navy was taking into account "all threats posed by potential adversaries" in planning its development strategy through the year 2050, including its long-term shipbuilding strategy.

The reference to the fleet's nuclear readiness comes about two months after Russia conducted large-scale exercises involving its nuclear forces from May 19-21. The drills included naval, land-based, and aerial forces.

Russia's Northern and Pacific fleets took part in the exercises, which featured 73 surface ships and 13 submarines, according to the Russian Defense Ministry. Eight of the submarines were reportedly armed with strategic missiles.

Despite the nuclear posturing, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Moscow had recently received an "unequivocal" message from China that the use of nuclear weapons was not an option.

At the recent NATO Summit in Turkey, Zelensky said European leaders told him that China had reacted strongly to statements in the Russian media about the possible use of nuclear weapons.  

"I think you heard such voices in Russian media: 'What if we respond to Ukrainian strikes with nuclear weapons?' And it seems to me that this was the first time China ... directly responded in an ultimatum-like form — that there can be no thought whatsoever of using nuclear weapons," Zelensky told reporters on July 9.

Russia's navy remains the third most powerful in the world, according to public assessments, trailing only the United States and China. But the full-scale war has exposed vulnerabilities in its Black Sea operations, where Ukraine has managed to push back one of the Kremlin's most prized military assets.

Recently, Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces have taken aim at Russian commercial vessels in the Black Sea and Sea of Azov. Ukraine has already reported striking over 100 targets in Russia's key maritime corridors.