Whereas the military doctrine of the Russian Federation states The Russian Federation reserves the right to use nuclear weapons in response to … large-scale aggression utilizing conventional weapons in situations critical to the national security of the Russian Federation ; Whereas it is estimated that the Russian Federation has an arsenal of as many as 2,000 tactical nuclear weapons; Whereas President Vladimir Putin has expressed a willingness to use tactical nuclear weapons when he stated If the territorial integrity of our country is threatened, we will without doubt use all available means to protect Russia and our people—this is not a bluff … [a]nd those who try to blackmail us with nuclear weapons should know that the weathervane can turn and point towards them ; Whereas, on March 23, 2023, Dmitry Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, stated Every day when they [the west] provide Ukraine with foreign weapons brings the nuclear apocalypse closer ; Whereas, in May 2023, the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus formalized an agreement that allows for the deployment of the Russian Federation’s tactical nuclear weapons in the Republic of Belarus; Whereas the deployment of the Russian Federation’s tactical nuclear weapons in the Republic of Belarus would be the first such deployment of these weapons outside of the Russian Federation since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991; Whereas, on June 17, 2023, President Vladimir Putin confirmed that the Russian Federation had begun to deploy tactical nuclear weapons within the Republic of Belarus and confirmed that the deployment of these weapons would be completed by the end of the summer; Whereas, on June 17, 2023, following the announcement of the Russian Federation’s deployment of tactical nuclear weapons in the Republic of Belarus, President Biden expressed publically that such a move was totally irresponsible