US deployment of new B61-12 nukes to Europe would violate non-proliferation treaty – Moscow
“The most recent variations of the B61-12 bombs are also designed for deployment to the territory of a number of NATO countries in Europe for use as part of the so-called nuclear missions involving pilots from the alliance’s non-nuclear member-states,” the director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Department for Non-Proliferation and Arms Control Department, Mikhail Ulyanov, told TASS news agency.
“According to our assessment, this runs counter to the NPT [the Non-Proliferation Treaty] commitments,” the Russian diplomat said on Tuesday after the US National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) announced it had conducted the second successful flight test of B61-12 gravity nuclear bombs in Nevada.
Ulyanov recalled his previous doubts about the upgraded weapon, which he says could “lower the threshold of using nuclear weapons.”
“US military specialists claim that this bomb will be more ethical and more usable, because it has greater accuracy and results in less catastrophic effects for civilians if used on vast areas,” Ulyanov said.
“This prompts the conclusion that when they go operational, such bombs may objectively lower the threshold of using nuclear weapons. We see this as the key negative effect of the ongoing upgrade work.”
The US has repeatedly accused Russia of NPT violations to cover the upgrade of its own nuclear arsenal, the diplomat believes.
“There is such a feeling that these accusations serve also as a smoke screen to modernize rather dangerous US potential,” Ulyanov stated.
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