NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance is discussing putting its nuclear weapons on alert amid threats from Russia, China and North Korea.
He told about this in an interview with The Telegraph newspaper.
According to the Secretary General, NATO countries should show their nuclear arsenal to the world in order to "send a direct signal" to their opponents. Consultations are currently underway to remove the missiles from storage and put them on standby.
Stoltenberg declined to say how many nuclear warheads should be in combat mode. He noted that the goal of the Alliance is a world without nuclear weapons, but as long as such weapons exist, NATO will remain a nuclear bloc.
The newspaper writes that the US and Great Britain have transferred their nuclear deterrent forces to NATO, while other European allies keep weapons on their territory, including France. The country (NATOʼs third nuclear power) does not put its arsenal at the disposal of the Alliance due to a long-standing decision to maintain independence in matters of its own deterrence. The number of operational nuclear warheads is not officially known, and the information itself is classified. But the UK is estimated to have about 40 of the 225 warheads that can be deployed at any moment, while the US has about 1 700 of the 3 700.
Stoltenberg warned that only China is investing heavily in its nuclear arsenal, which will grow to 1 000 warheads by 2030.
- According to a 2023 report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), there are 12,512 nuclear warheads in the world. Russia has 5,889 nuclear warheads, the US has 5 244, China has 410, France has 290, Britain has 225, and India, Pakistan and Israel have less than 170. North Korea, according to SIPRI, has up to 30. The number of warheads is growing.
- Russia and Belarus also claim that Moscow handed Minsk tactical nuclear weapons in 2023. According to CNN, American intelligence does not doubt the presence of Russian nuclear weapons in Belarus.
- Poland warned in June 2024 that Russia keeps about 100 tactical nuclear warheads in the Kaliningrad region.