LONDON, Oct 29 (Reuters) – Russia said on Saturday that accelerating the deployment of modern US B61 nuclear weapons to NATO bases in Europe would reduce the “nuclear threat” and that the when Russia takes action on its military plans.
Russia has about 2,000 active nuclear weapons and the United States has about 200 such weapons, half of which are in Italy, Germany, Turkey, Belgium and the Netherlands.
In the midst of the Ukraine crisis, Politico reported on October 26 that the United States told a NATO closed-door meeting this month that it would accelerate the deployment of a modern version of the B61, the B61-12, with new weapons to arrive at European bases in it. December, a few months earlier than planned.
“We cannot ignore the plans to modernize nuclear weapons, free-fall bombs are in Europe,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko told the news agency the RIA.
The 12-ft B61-12 gravity bomb carries a smaller nuclear warhead than previous versions but is more accurate and can penetrate underground, according to research by the Federation of American Scientists published in 2014.
“The United States is modernizing them, increasing their accuracy and reducing the power of the nuclear war, that is, they are turning these weapons into ‘weapons of war’, and reducing nuclear proliferation,” said Grushko.
The Pentagon said it would not discuss the details of the US nuclear arsenal and that the Politico article is wrong because the United States has long planned to update its B61 nuclear weapons.
“The modernization of the US B61 nuclear weapons has been ongoing for several years, and the plans to safely exchange and target the old weapons for the upgrade of B61-12 versions are part of a long-standing effort planned and organized,” said Pentagon spokesman Oscar Seara.
“It has absolutely no connection to the current events in Ukraine and has not been accelerated in any way,” Seara said in an emailed statement.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has caused the worst standoff between Moscow and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis when the two Cold War superpowers came close to nuclear war.
President Vladimir Putin
has repeatedly said that Russia will defend its territory with all available means, including nuclear weapons, if attacked.
‘STRATEGIC SIGNIFICANCE’
The information raised concern in the West after Moscow announced last month that it had annexed four regions of Ukraine under its control. Read also : 10 Video Game Weapons I Could Never Use. Putin says the West is engaging in aggressive nuclear measures against Russia.
US President Joe Biden said on October 6 that Putin had brought the world closer to “Armageddon” than at any time since the Cuban Missile Crisis, although Biden later said that he did not think that Putin would use a nuclear weapon.
Putin did not mention the use of a nuclear weapon but said he suspected Ukraine could detonate a “dirty bomb”, a claim both Ukraine and the West have mistaken. .
The US B61 nuclear bomb was first tested in Nevada shortly after the Cuban Missile Crisis. Under Barack Obama, the president of the US from 2009 to 2017, the development of a new type of bomb, the B61-12, was approved.
Russia’s Grushko said Moscow should also consider the Lockheed Martin F-35 to drop such a bomb. NATO, he said, has already strengthened the nuclear aspects of its military strategy.
NATO “has already made decisions to strengthen the nuclear sector in the alliance’s military plans,” Grushko said.
The Russian ambassador to Washington, Anatoly Antonov, said on Saturday on Telegram that the new B61 bombs have a “significant value” because they store Russia’s nuclear weapons, but these bombs a America will be only a short trip from Russia’s borders.
The United States, according to the US 2022 Nuclear Posture Review published on Thursday, will strengthen the nuclear deterrent with the F-35, B61-12 bombers and a nuclear-armed air-to-air missile .
Edited by Frances Kerry and Helen Popper
