NATO Discusses Bringing Nuclear Weapons to Combat Readiness

NATO member countries have begun discussions on the necessity of bringing nuclear weapons to combat readiness. This was stated by the Secretary-General of the North Atlantic Alliance, Jens Stoltenberg, in an interview with the British newspaper The Daily Telegraph.

“I will not go into detail about how many nuclear warheads need to be put on operational status and how they should be maintained, but we need to consult on these issues. That is precisely what we are doing,” he said.

According to the Secretary-General, the transparency of the issue sends a clear message that NATO is a nuclear alliance. “NATO's goal is to see the world without nuclear weapons, but as long as they exist, we will remain a nuclear alliance, because a world in which Russia, China, and North Korea have nuclear weapons while NATO does not would be a dangerous world,” Stoltenberg noted.

He expressed particular concern about China, which is investing significant resources in the creation of modern types of weapons and plans to increase its number of nuclear warheads to a thousand by 2030. “This means that in the not-so-distant future, NATO could face an unprecedented situation with two potential nuclear adversaries, namely China and Russia. This will lead to consequences,” the Secretary-General believes.