White House 'comfortable' with nuclear stance after NATO chief suggests increase in deployed weapons

The White House said it was “comfortable” with how its nuclear weapons are placed following comments from NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg suggesting NATO members consider increasing the number of nuclear weapons deployed to counter an increased threat from Russia and China.

Addressing the reports at a White House briefing, spokesman John Kirby said the United States is “comfortable” with its “strategic deterrence posture.”

Asked about Mr. Stoltenberg's comments, Mr. Kirby replied: “We're not talking about nuclear posture specifically – and I'm certainly not going to start doing that here from the podium.

“I will just tell you that we are comfortable, as we have been with our strategic deterrence posture, not only on the European continent but throughout the world.”

Asked about the provocative nature of such a move, he added: “Who could see it as a provocation or an escalation? Russia. Oh, Russia, the same country that invaded Ukraine, which posed absolutely no threat to it. ” He added that “NATO is a defensive alliance.”

In an interview published by The Daily TelegraphMr Stoltenberg revealed that defense ministers from the bloc's member states had discussed deploying more nuclear weapons in the face of the growing threat from Russia and China.

He said live consultations had taken place among members on removing the missiles from storage and putting them on hold, while calling for transparency to be used as a deterrent.

“I won't go into operational details on how many nuclear warheads should be operational and which should be stockpiled, but we need to consult on these issues,” Stoltenberg said.

“This is exactly what we do in NATO, for example in the meetings within NATO, of a nuclear planning group as we had in the meeting of defense ministers this this month. [last] week.”

The NATO Secretary General made the comments ahead of his visit to Washington on Monday. Next month, NATO will hold its annual summit in Washington.

Stoltenberg said on Sunday that China's nuclear arsenal could reach 1,000 nuclear warheads by 2030, adding that this would mean NATO would potentially face “two potential nuclear-armed adversaries” in the “future not very far away.”

The Federation of American Scientists (FAS) estimates that the Russian military stockpile includes approximately 4,380 nuclear warheads, with an additional 1,200 reprocessed warheads awaiting dismantling, as of March 2024.

The number of operational nuclear weapons is top secret, but estimates suggest the UK has around 40 out of 225 deployed at any one time. The United States has about 1,700 out of 3,700. France, another NATO country with nuclear weapons, does not openly declare the extent of its arsenal.

Earlier this month, Pranay Vaddi, the top arms control official at the US National Security Council, said the world “could reach a point in the coming years where an increase in the number of deployments current will be necessary.

Experts suggest that Mr. Stoltenberg's comments simply reflect an increased security threat in Europe due to Russia's large-scale invasion of Ukraine and its hybrid warfare activities against other European countries, including the use of cyberwarfare – as opposed to an offensive threat.

Sebastian Brixey-Williams, executive director of security think tank Basic, said The Guardian: “I interpret it at this stage as a form of signal intended to sober up Russia and China in an attempt to avoid an arms race. But we shouldn't assume this is a bluff, because that could actually make an arms race more likely. »

The Kremlin called Mr Stoltenberg's comments that the military alliance was holding negotiations on deploying more nuclear weapons an “escalation of tensions”.

“This is nothing but a new escalation of tensions,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday.

However, Russia regularly resorts to claiming that NATO and Ukraine's Western allies are escalating tensions, often when they are simply responding to Russian aggression.