The head of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, highlighted, this Wednesday (12), the alliance’s efforts to adapt its capabilities to current security threats, in a reference to the West’s nuclear arsenal.
Stoltenberg even mentioned Russia’s more recent nuclear exercises and rhetoric.
NATO’s Secretary-General told reporters ahead of a meeting of the alliance’s Defense Ministers in Brussels that will include a nuclear planning group meeting and that the alliance’s nuclear weapons are the “ultimate security guarantee” and means to preserve peace.
Although NATO is aware that the United States has placed nuclear bombs in several locations in Europe, it rarely speaks publicly about the issue.
Discussing what the alliance chief called the “ongoing adaptation” of NATO’s nuclear arsenal, Stoltenberg said the Netherlands first declared in June that its F-35 jets were ready to carry nuclear weapons.
The NATO chief also said that the US is modernizing its nuclear weapons in Europe.
Stoltenberg described growing activity by Russia around its nuclear capabilities.
“What we have seen in recent years and months is dangerous nuclear rhetoric from the Russian side. We have also seen more nuclear exercises from Russia,” he said.
On Tuesday (12), Russia stated that its troops had begun a second stage of exercises to practice the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons, alongside Belarusian troops, after which Moscow considered threats from Western powers.
Since sending thousands of troops to Ukraine in February 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly stated that Moscow could use nuclear weapons in extreme situations to defend itself.
Russia accuses the US and its European allies of pushing the world to the brink of nuclear confrontation with the transfer of billions of dollars worth of weapons to Ukraine, some of them being used against Russian territory.
Stoltenberg also mentioned the modernization of China’s nuclear weapons, adding that Beijing is expected to strengthen the number of nuclear missiles in a few years, many of them with the ability to reach NATO territories.
Source: CNN Brasil
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