The number of operational nuclear warheads in the world increased in 2022, driven by Russia and China, according to a report published this Wednesday in a context of threats from Moscow.
At the beginning of 2023, the nine official and unofficial nuclear powers possessed 9,576 ready-to-use warheads, 136 more than the previous year, according to the Nuclear Weapons Ban Monitor report, published by the Norwegian NGO Norsk Folkehjelp.
Its destructive capacity is equivalent to “more than 135,000 Hiroshima bombs,” according to the report.
The increase observed in 2022 is due to Russia, which has the largest nuclear arsenal in the world with 5,889 operational warheads, as well as China, India, North Korea and Pakistan.
“This increase is worrying and continues a trend that began in 2017,” said Grethe Lauglo Østern, a person in charge of the report.
The report was published against a background of nuclear threats by Moscow, related to its invasion of Ukraine. In fact, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on Saturday an upcoming deployment of tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, a country located at the gates of the EU and NATO and a close ally of the Kremlin.
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“There is nothing unusual here: the United States has been doing this for decades: it has been deploying tactical nuclear weapons for a long time on the territory of its allies,” Putin said in an interview broadcast on Russian television.
A hundred “tactical” US weapons have already been deployed for years in Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkey, according to estimates by various independent analysts.
Putin’s announcement was criticized by Ukraine and its Western allies. NATO considered that “Russia’s nuclear rhetoric is dangerous and irresponsible” and the EU threatened Minsk with more sanctions.
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Total stock of atomic weapons is reduced
Parallel to the conflict in Ukraine, North Korea is stepping up its launch of ballistic missiles, tests that are likely to increase its capability to carry out nuclear attacks.
In this highly deteriorated geopolitical situation, fears of the use of these weapons have reached record levels since the end of the Cold War three decades ago, according to surveys carried out in several countries.
The total stock of atomic weapons, which includes those decommissioned, was however reduced.
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Their total number went from 12,705 to 12,512 in one year, due to the destruction of old warheads. in Russia and the United States.
“This is so because Russia and the United States dismantle a small number of their older nuclear warheads annually,” said Hans Kristensen, head of the Federation of American Scientists.
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Russia and the United States dismantle a small number of their older nuclear warheads annually
Russia and the United States together account for about 89 percent of the total nuclear arsenal, the report needs.
If the introduction of new warheads is not stopped, “the total number of nuclear weapons in the world will soon rise again for the first time since the Cold War,” Lauglo Østern added.
The eight official nuclear powers are the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, China, India, Pakistan, and North Korea. Israel is an unofficial nuclear power and has never acknowledged having such a capability.
AFP
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