NATO’s annual nuclear response exercise will be held in Europe next week / Article

The exercise will last about two weeks and will involve 2,000 troops and 60 aircraft from 13 countries. The exercise will cover eight military bases.

“Steadfast Noon” has been held annually at approximately the same time for over ten years. They do not use combat weapons, but they do use bombers and fighters capable of carrying nuclear warheads.

Most of the movements take place in the North Sea, about 900 kilometers from Russia, and Moscow is aware of the exercises.

The exercise aims to show that the alliance’s ability to deal with any threat to its 32 member states is credible and “any adversary should be taken very seriously,” said Angus Lapsley, deputy NATO secretary-general for defense policy and planning.

Lapsley said that NATO has seen North Korea as a nuclear power, the rapid expansion of China’s nuclear capabilities and developments in Iran, but the alliance is very concerned about Russia.

He said that Moscow has been investing more and more in its nuclear forces in the past two years and that it is “introducing many new systems and putting more emphasis on investment in their short and medium weapons systems.”

Lapsley noted that Moscow has been “talking a lot about their nuclear doctrine and how it might change” recently. In his opinion, this is a very clear attempt to influence NATO when it comes to supporting Ukraine.

Russian leader Vladimir Putin and other representatives of the Kremlin have often threatened the West with Russia’s nuclear arsenal. But NATO has seen no real change in Moscow’s stance on nuclear weapons.

New NATO Secretary General Mark Rite, who took office on October 1, stressed that while Putin’s comments on nuclear weapons were “irresponsible and irresponsible”, there was no evidence that the weapons were in danger of being used. nuclear.

Rite also said that introducing any threat “would set a precedent that the use of military force would allow a country to get what it wants, and we must not allow that.”

Report a bug