A clear message that NATO is a nuclear alliance

The Kremlin announced yesterday that NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg's statement that the military alliance is discussing the deployment of more nuclear weapons is an "escalation of tensions."

Stoltenberg told the British "Telegraph" that NATO members, faced with the growing threat from Russia and China, are consulting on deploying more nuclear weapons, removing them from storage and putting them in a state of combat readiness, reported Reuters.

"I will not go into the operational details of how many nuclear warheads should be operational and how many should be stored, but we need to consult on these issues. This is exactly what we are doing," Stoltenberg told "Telegraf". "Transparency helps convey a clear message that, of course, we are a nuclear alliance," he added.

"NATO's goal is, of course, a world without nuclear weapons, but as long as nuclear weapons exist, we 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 said last Sunday that nuclear weapons are NATO's "ultimate security guarantee" and a means to preserve peace.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said yesterday that Stoltenberg's comments seemed to contradict a statement issued over the weekend at a conference in Switzerland, which emphasized that any threat to use nuclear weapons in the context of Ukraine is unacceptable.

The talks in Switzerland, held at the initiative of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, were presented as a "peace summit", although Moscow was not invited.

"This is nothing but another escalation of tensions," Peskov said regarding the statement of the NATO Secretary General.

The head of Russia's foreign intelligence service, Sergei Naryshkin, said earlier yesterday that Stoltenberg's statement was aimed at "spreading fear", but that Moscow should approach those words "calmly".

NATO later, as reported by Reuters, tried to clarify Stoltenberg's statements, emphasizing that there was no significant change in nuclear positioning.

"NATO is committed to a safe, secure and effective nuclear deterrent," said NATO spokeswoman Farah Daklalah.

"To that end, we have an ongoing modernization program to replace outdated weapons and aircraft," she said. "In addition, there are no significant changes to our nuclear deterrent."

Russia, which sent troops to Ukraine in 2022, claims the US and its European allies are pushing the world to the brink of nuclear conflict by supplying Ukraine with billions of dollars worth of weapons, some of which are being used on Russian soil. President Vladimir Putin said that Russia is technically ready for nuclear war, and that Moscow can use nuclear weapons to defend itself in extreme circumstances.

According to a report published yesterday by the International Institute for Peace Research in Stockholm, nine countries possessing nuclear weapons continued their modernization and the development of new weapons systems, and the number of nuclear warheads that are ready for immediate use is increasing.

In the 2024 report on nuclear weapons in the world, Sipri writes that those nine nuclear powers - the US, Russia, China, Great Britain, France, India, Pakistan, North Korea and Israel - possessed a total of 12.121 nuclear warheads in January of this year .

Almost 90 percent of nuclear weapons are in the hands of the USA (5.044) and Russia (5.580). That number has slightly decreased on both sides compared to January 2023. The number of deployed warheads is similar on both sides, the US has 1.770 and Russia has 1.710.

In addition, both countries have more than 1.000 nuclear warheads that have been decommissioned but not dismantled.

China increased its nuclear arsenal from 410 nuclear warheads in January 2023 to 500 in January this year.

"China is expanding its nuclear arsenal faster than any other country," said Hans Kristensen, a Sipri expert on weapons of mass destruction. Depending on how it plans to shape its forces, China, while its overall nuclear arsenal will remain smaller, could have as many intercontinental ballistic missiles as Russia or the United States by the end of the decade, Christensen said.

The only two European nuclear powers, France and Great Britain, have 290 and 225 nuclear warheads, respectively.

India has 172, Pakistan 170, North Korea 50 and Israel 90, although the country does not officially recognize that it has nuclear weapons.

Sipri notes that data on North Korea's nuclear capabilities are unreliable and that the country has produced enough fissile material for 90 nuclear warheads, but that it is more likely to have around 60.