Secretary General Stoltenberg: NATO is discussing bringing nuclear weapons to combat readiness
NATO countries began to discuss the issue of bringing nuclear weapons to a state of combat readiness. This was stated by Alliance Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
According to him, the bloc must demonstrate its nuclear arsenal to the whole world in order to send a “direct signal to its opponents.”
I won’t go into operational detail about how many nuclear warheads should be on alert… but we need to consult on these issues
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Stoltenberg spoke about threats to NATO
The NATO Secretary General also called the alliance’s goal “a world without nuclear weapons.” According to him, as long as it exists, NATO will remain a nuclear alliance.
Because a world in which Russia, China and North Korea have nuclear weapons and NATO does not is a more dangerous world
Stoltenberg pointed to China’s significant investment in modern weapons, including its nuclear arsenal. The alliance estimates that by 2030 China will have up to one thousand nuclear warheads. In this case, the Secretary General believes, NATO may face “two potential adversaries with nuclear power – China and Russia.” “Of course, this has its consequences,” he added.
Also, Stoltenberg noted, the United States and its European allies are modernizing their nuclear deterrent forces “in the face of the growing threat from Russia.” Thus, the Americans are modernizing gravity bombs, Europe is modernizing aircraft intended for NATO’s nuclear mission. In addition, Great Britain has a nuclear arsenal.
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Nuclear weapons countries continue to modernize their arsenal
The fact that nuclear countries – five official (Britain, China, Russia, USA, France) and four unofficial (Israel, India, North Korea, Pakistan) – continue to modernize their atomic arsenal is stated in the annual study of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute ( SIPRI).
It is noted that some of these states have deployed new weapons systems with a nuclear charge or with the ability to carry a nuclear charge in 2023.
According to SIPRI, the global stockpile is 12,121 nuclear warheads, of which 9,585 were in reserve in January 2024. At the same time, Russia and the United States account for about 90 percent of all nuclear weapons in the world. There were no fundamental changes over the year, except that, according to the institute’s calculations, Russia deployed 36 additional warheads.
It is noted that the trend towards an increase in the number of nuclear warheads ready for use will continue in the coming years. At the same time, the total number of weapons is decreasing.
Earlier, the Financial Times wrote that some foreign officials are concerned about Russia’s possible nuclear response to the actions of the West, namely in connection with the permission to use weapons transferred to Ukraine to strike Russian territory. The material clarifies that Russian military doctrine allegedly provides for the prompt use of nuclear weapons in the event of a direct conflict with NATO.
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