Alwaght- Russian Ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov has called on Washington to return the nuclear weapons that it has been maintaining in other countries for decades back to its territory.
“In these times of tensions and increased risks, nuclear states have a special responsibility to prevent escalation. That said, I once again call on Washington to return all the nuclear weapons deployed overseas back to its national territory, eliminate overseas infrastructure for their storage and maintenance, and to abandon the practice of simulating the use of such weapons involving troops from non-nuclear countries as part of NATO’s ‘joint nuclear missions’, which run counter to the basic principles of the Non-Proliferation Treaty," Tass news agency quoted him as saying.
The comments followed reports by American outlets suggesting that the Pentagon would speed up plans to store upgraded B61-12 air-dropped gravity bombs in Europe.
“Administration officials traditionally refer to these weapons as tactical ones and argue that Russia’s arsenal of similar weapons is several times larger than the US one. However, they don’t reveal the fact that all our tactical nuclear weapons are stored in centralized facilities in Russia and cannot pose a threat to the United States," Antonov emphasized. "As for US air-dropped bombs, they are deployed to European countries with short flight times to Russia’s border. This is why B61-12 bombs have strategic importance despite their limited capacity," he added.
He further held:“Moreover, the US Armed Forces, together with NATO partners, regularly hold drills practicing the use of these weapons. Such training is currently taking place as part of the Steadfast Noon exercise. The North Atlantic alliance’s leadership claims that the activity is not targeted against Russia. The question is then who is it that the alliance is practicing using nuclear weapons against if it is our country that is described as the ‘most significant and direct threat’ to security in its strategic concept?"
The US and Russia are at an unfolding confrontation over Ukraine and are getting increasingly motivated to develop their nuclear weapons.
The West suggests that Russia could nuke Ukraine but Moscow says the Americans are uusing Ukraine crisis to flout bilateral agreements with the Russians on reduction of nuclear warheads.
