Jens Stoltenberg asks NATO countries to consider deploying nuclear weapons

Many NATO member states possess nuclear weapons. This is widely known. However, the capabilities each individual country possesses and where they are deployed are rarely talked about.

Now NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg is asking NATO members to be more open about how they deal with their nuclear arsenal.

In addition, Stoltenberg warns, many NATO nuclear weapons will likely be taken out of storage and placed on high alert in response to Russia's harsh and threatening rhetoric on nuclear weapons.

He writes Telegraph.

– NATO could face something it has never faced before, and there are two potential opponents that possess nuclear energy, China and Russia. Stoltenberg tells the newspaper that this of course has consequences.

It must be taken out of storage

The interview was conducted at NATO headquarters in Brussels, where Stoltenberg explained, among other things, how the alliance would confront Russia's continuing threat over the possible use of nuclear weapons against Ukraine and Western countries supplying weapons to Ukraine.

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According to The Telegraph, concrete discussions are now taking place within NATO about the fact that member states should take their nuclear weapons out of storage to a greater extent and put them into operation, thus introducing a higher level of readiness in Europe.

This is happening at the same time that Vladimir Putin and several of his key aides have repeatedly threatened to use tactical nuclear weapons to win the war against Ukraine.

A clear message to Putin

– I do not want to go into operational details about how many nuclear warheads will be operated and which will be stored, but these issues must be consulted. This is exactly what we are doing now, as the NATO Secretary General confirms.

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Stoltenberg's justification for enhancing nuclear weapons readiness is to demonstrate the destructive capacity that NATO possesses, and in this way to deter Russia from doing something that could have disastrous consequences.

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– Transparency helps deliver the direct message that we are, of course, a nuclear alliance, says Jens Stoltenberg.

video: Putin: – The danger of nuclear war has been minimized

-We must be fully prepared

Pranay Fadee, the White House's senior director for arms control, explained last week that the United States may have to increase deployment of strategic nuclear weapons in response to Putin's repeated nuclear threats.

In the absence of any change in the enemy’s arsenal, we may reach a point in the coming years where it is necessary to increase the numbers deployed from today. We must be fully prepared if the president makes this decision, Fadi said, according to the report Reuters.

Chinese nuclear submarine during a previous naval exercise. Photo: Guang Niu/NTB

He added that this will identify the need for more nuclear weapons to deter our adversaries and protect the American people, their allies and partners.

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Warns of China's nuclear program

In addition to Russia's threats to use nuclear weapons, Jens Stoltenberg also warns of China's nuclear weapons program, which is growing strongly and rapidly. By 2030, NATO assumes China will have 1,000 operational warheads.

NATO's larger nuclear powers maintain most of their nuclear arsenals, but now it may be appropriate to make nuclear weapons ready for use for fear of a potential confrontation with Russia and China.

Britain is said to have deployed about 40 of its 225 nuclear weapons in Europe, while the United States is said to have deployed 1,700 of its 3,700 nuclear warheads. France still keeps secret the size of its stockpile and the number of ready nuclear weapons.