NJ5 said:
I'm highly suspicious of that claim. Why would they move tactical nukes there? According to wikipedia, that SS-21 missile can carry different types of warheads, not just nuclear. I can't find the original interview, so I remain very doubtful of that.
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http://www.democracynow.org/2008/8/11/up_to_2_000_killed_as
They assume it's nuclear because their would be no stratigical use of moving a pair of conventional launchers in.
I"t appears to me as if the Russians were preparing themselves to do that in this case. First of all, I think they believe the United States was going to intervene. At a news conference on Sunday, the deputy national security adviser said we have noted that the Russians have introduced two SS-21 medium-range ballistic missile launchers into South Ossetia. Now, let me say a little footnote about those. They’re both conventional and nuclear. They have a relatively small conventional warhead, however. So, the military significance, if they were to be conventional, was almost trivial compared to what the Russians could deliver with the aircraft that they were using to strike the Georgians."