NATO Nuclear Readiness and Transparency is Key Amid Global Threats, Says Stoltenberg

NATO should put its nuclear weapons on standby in the face of the growing threat from Russia and other global players, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said.

Stoltenberg noted, in an interview with The Telegraph, that the bloc should show its nuclear arsenal to the world to send a direct message.

“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 stated.

Stoltenberg emphasized that NATO’s nuclear strategy must prioritize transparency regarding nuclear capabilities, aiming to ready the alliance for what he characterized as a more dangerous world. A decade earlier, when he assumed leadership of NATO at age 65, nuclear drills were conducted in total secrecy.

“Transparency helps to communicate the direct message that we, of course, are a nuclear alliance,” Stoltenberg said. “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.”

He cautioned that China was making substantial investments in modern weaponry, including its nuclear arsenal, which he anticipated could expand to 1000 warheads by as soon as 2030.

Russia’s Vladimir Putin has made repeated threats to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine and has positioned warheads closer to Europe’s borders. On June 11, the second phase of Russia and Belarus tactical nuclear weapons drills was announced by the Defense Ministry of the Russian Federation.

Russia has been using the strategy of utilizing nuclear threats and diplomatic maneuvers to pressure Western leaders into tempering their support for Ukraine.

“And that means that in a not-very-distant future,” he said, “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.”