Russia has labeled NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg’s recent comments on deploying additional nuclear weapons as an escalation of tensions. The relationship between Moscow and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has been fraught with tension since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. This invasion, ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin, plunged Europe into its most significant security crisis since World War II and forced Western leaders to reevaluate security arrangements. Amidst this heightened tension, NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg, in a recent interview, stated that NATO was exploring the deployment of more nuclear weapons on standby to counter threats from adversaries such as Russia, China, and North Korea.
Russia has consistently issued nuclear threats toward the West since the invasion of Ukraine. In recent weeks, Russia has also conducted drills involving the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons, weapons with lower yields intended for battlefield use, alongside Belarus. Dmitry Peskov, spokesperson for the Russian presidency, claimed that the United States and its European allies are pushing the world “to the brink of nuclear confrontation” by supplying Ukraine with billions of dollars worth of weapons, according to Reuters. Peskov, in response to NATO’s considerations, argued that it appears to contradict the statement of the Ukraine peace summit, in which signatories rejected the use of nuclear weapons in the context of Ukraine. Peskov further declared, “This is nothing but another escalation of tension.”
NATO chief Stoltenberg has outlined the alliance’s plans for deterrence, stating that they are currently deliberating on the number of nuclear warheads to be retrieved from storage and deployed on standby. “I won’t go into operational details about how many nuclear warheads should be operational and which should be stored, but we need to consult on these issues. That’s exactly what we’re doing,” Stoltenberg said in an interview with The Telegraph. Stoltenberg further informed the newspaper that NATO is preparing for a “more dangerous world.” While emphasizing NATO’s commitment to a world free of nuclear weapons, he acknowledged the alliance’s need to remain prepared as long as nations like China and Russia possess nuclear arsenals. He emphasized that NATO remains a “nuclear alliance”. “NATO’s aim is, of course, a world without nuclear weapons, but as long as nuclear weapons exist, we will remain a nuclear alliance, because a world where Russia, China and North Korea have nuclear weapons, and Nato does not, is a more dangerous world,” Stoltenberg asserted.
Stoltenberg also drew attention to China’s rapid investment in nuclear weapons, suggesting that this could place the world in an unprecedented situation in the coming years. “That means that in a not-very-distant future, NATO may face something that it has never faced before, and that is two nuclear-powered potential adversaries – China and Russia. Of course, this has consequences,” Stoltenberg remarked.
Within NATO, the United States and United Kingdom contribute nuclear weapons, while European allies share responsibility for hosting them. Following the invasion of Ukraine, Russia stationed nuclear weapons in Belarus. Russia justified this move by stating that it was deploying weapons abroad, similar to the United States’ deployment of nuclear weapons under the NATO umbrella. Just weeks before Russia organized drills for the use of tactical nuclear weapons, senior Russian official Dmitry Medvedev threatened the West with a nuclear attack. In a tweet targeting British and French military support for Ukraine, he claimed that Russia was conducting nuclear drills to plan a response to any attack on its territory aided by the West. “Under certain circumstances the response will be delivered not only to Kiev and it won’t contain plain explosives but special ammunition as well. And to drill the response to such attacks is the aim of the planned military exercise. Even the semiliterate Imbeciles of His Royal Majesty should understand that,” Medvedev wrote on X (formerly Twitter). Medvedev currently serves as Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of Russia, the highest security body within the Russian presidency. He previously held the positions of President (2008-12) and Prime Minister (2012-20) of Russia.
