6 months ago
35
LONDON:
Nato
is in talks to deploy more
nuclear weapons
, taking them out of storage and placing them on standby, in the face of a growing threat from
Russia
and China, the head of the
alliance
said on Monday.
Jens Stoltenberg told Britain's
Telegraph
newspaper that there were live consultations between members to use
transparency
around its nuclear arsenal as a deterrent.
"I won't go into operational details about how many nuclear warheads should be operational and which should be stored, but we need to consult on these issues. That's exactly what we're doing," he told the paper. "Transparency helps to communicate the direct message that we, of course, are a nuclear alliance."
"Nato's aim is, of course, a world without nuclear weapons, but as long as nuclear weapons exist, we will remain a nuclear alliance, because a world where Russia, China and North Korea have nuclear weapons, and Nato does not, is a more dangerous world." Stoltenberg said last week that nuclear weapons were Nato's "ultimate security guarantee" and a means to preserve peace.
The Kremlin said Stoltenberg's remark was an "escalation of tension". Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the comments appeared to contradict a communique issued at a weekend conference in Switzerland that said any threat or use of nuclear weapons in the Ukraine context was inadmissible.
Stoltenberg later said Russia was trying to create confusion and that his comments referred to the modernisation of Nato's nuclear deterrent, including the replacement of F-16 jets with F-35s and the modernisation of weapons deployed in Europe, which he said has been known for a long time. "Russia is trying a way to always also create a situation where they can blame Nato, and the reality is that Nato is transparent," Stoltenberg told reporters on a visit to Washington. A Nato spokesperson had earlier sought to clarify Stoltenberg's remarks, saying: "We have an ongoing modernisation programme to replace legacy weapons and aircraft. Beyond that, there are no significant changes to our nuclear deterrent."
Russia, which sent troops into Ukraine in 2022, says the US and its European allies are pushing the world to the brink of nuclear confrontation by giving Ukraine billions of dollars worth of weapons. Prez Putin has said Russia is technically ready for nuclear war, and that Moscow could use nuclear weapons to defend itself in extreme circumstances.
