FLASH NEWS
The risk of a nuclear war/ How many weapons does Europe have and where are they located?
2024-03-01 12:30:08 / BOTA
Yesterday, Russian President Vladimir Putin turned his speech to the nation in a way to convey a strong message to the West: Sending NATO troops to Ukraine will have tragic consequences.
"Russia has weapons that can hit their territory. But it is Western rhetoric that is threatening a conflict with the use of atomic weapons. "All this increases the real threat of a nuclear conflict that means the destruction of humanity," Putin said.
However, NATO would not be unprepared for the possibility of deploying tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, even if the arsenal has been progressively reduced over the decades. Here's where and how many weapons there are.
The US deployed its nuclear weapons at NATO bases after the end of World War II, beginning in the 1950s.
According to CFR, the Council on Foreign Relations (an American think tank specializing in foreign policy), US-branded tactical nuclear weapons are located at six bases in five member countries of the Alliance: Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkey. The United Kingdom and France have their own nuclear forces, but they no longer have American weapons.
According to some experts, the United States may have about a hundred nuclear bombs located in these six countries. However, the arsenal has been reduced over the years following several nuclear weapons agreements, notably thanks to the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty in 1987 between Washington and Moscow.
The US nuclear arsenal in Europe consists entirely of B61 gravity bombs, designed to be dropped by Allied bombers or fighter aircraft. In service for more than 50 years, the B61, according to the CFR website, is the last tactical nuclear weapon still possessed by the US.
The presence of nuclear weapons on European soil was decided to reassure NATO members, during the Cold War years, in case of an attack considered very likely by the Soviet Union.
Moscow has intercontinental ballistic missiles, submarines and heavy bombers. These weapons are located in various military locations in its vast territory. However, analysts from several EU countries have long raised doubts about the presence of nuclear weapons in Kaliningrad, the Russian enclave between Poland and Lithuania. Officially, Moscow has always denied this, although, according to the CFR, a Russian government official in 2018 confirmed the delivery of nuclear-capable Iskander missiles to Kaliningrad.
Happening now...
83 mandates are not immunity for Rama's friends
Nga Gentian Gaba
ideas
top
Alfa recipes
TRENDING 
services
- POLICE129
- STREET POLICE126
- AMBULANCE112
- FIREFIGHTER128