Watchdog warns of increased use of nuclear weapons amid global tensions | Nuclear Weapons News

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute says Russia and the United States possess “nearly 90 percent of all nuclear weapons.”

The world's nine nuclear-armed states have increased their reliance on nuclear weapons, a watchdog said.

A report released Monday by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) says states increased spending by a third to modernize their atomic arsenals last year. The watchdog highlighted the contribution of the wars in Ukraine and Gaza to the deterioration of international security.

Wilfred Wan, director of SIPRI's weapons of mass destruction program, said nuclear weapons had not played such an important role in international relations since the Cold War.

The report finds that the effects of the wars in Ukraine and Gaza are “visible in almost every aspect of arms, disarmament and international security issues examined.”

All nine nuclear-armed states – the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, China, India, Pakistan, North Korea and Israel – have modernized their nuclear arsenals and several “deployed new nuclear or nuclear-capable weapon systems in 2023.” , discovered SIPRI.

The global inventory estimated at 12,121 warheads as of January 2024, represents a reduction of 391 from the previous year, with approximately 9,585 military warheads awaiting possible use.

However, around 3,904 of them have been deployed with missiles and aircraft, 60 more than in January 2023.

The vast majority of these deployed warheads belong to Russia and the United States, although China has “some warheads on high operational alert” for the first time.

Separately, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) said total combined spending on nuclear arsenals increased by $10.7 billion to reach $91.4 billion in 2023.

The United States is responsible for 80 percent of the increase in spending. Its budget of $51.5 billion was larger than that of the other eight nuclear-armed countries combined.

The second biggest spender was China, at $11.8 billion, ICAN said. Russia comes in third place with $8.3 billion.

“While the total number of global nuclear warheads continues to decline as Cold War weapons are gradually dismantled, we unfortunately continue to see a year-over-year increase in the number of operational nuclear warheads,” said Dan Smith, Director of SIPRI.

“This trend appears likely to continue and likely accelerate in coming years and is extremely concerning.”

The report adds that Russia and the United States possess “nearly 90% of all nuclear weapons.” The overall size of their stockpiles remained “relatively stable in 2023”, it said, while noting that Russia would have deployed around 36 more nuclear warheads with its operational forces than in January 2023.

In its SIPRI Yearbook 2024, the institute indicates that transparency on nuclear forces has decreased in both countries due to Russia's war against Ukraine and debates around nuclear sharing agreements.

Washington suspended its bilateral strategic stability dialogue with Russia, and last year Moscow announced it was leaving the New START nuclear treaty.

SIPRI added that although there were claims that Russia deployed nuclear weapons on Belarusian territory, there was “no conclusive visual evidence that the actual deployment of nuclear warheads took place.”

The institute stressed that all of its estimates were approximate and that it revises its data on global nuclear forces each year based on new information and updates to previous assessments.