NATO intends to place greater emphasis on the strength of its nuclear capabilities in the future, aiming to convincingly deter potential adversaries, Secretary General Mark Rutte said in an interview with Welt am Sonntag.
“It is important to speak more with our societies about nuclear deterrence to help them understand how it contributes to our shared security,” he said. In his view, in light of “dangerous and open nuclear rhetoric,” NATO citizens need to understand that “there is no reason to panic” and that the alliance possesses sufficient capabilities in this field.
“NATO’s nuclear defense is the perfect guarantee of our security,” Rutte emphasized. He added that it must remain “credible, reliable, and effective.” At the same time, the NATO chief stressed that “a nuclear war can never be won and must never be fought.”
Commenting on NATO’s annual nuclear deterrence exercise Steadfast Noon held in October, Rutte said it sent a clear signal to all adversaries that NATO can and will defend its partners against any threats.
Meanwhile, on November 5, Russian President Vladimir Putin instructed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Defense, intelligence services, and civilian agencies to gather and analyze additional information and “present coordinated proposals on the potential initiation of preparations for nuclear weapons testing.” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told TASS that the president did not instruct them to start preparations, but rather “ordered them to study the advisability of initiating preparations for such tests.”
Earlier, U.S. President Donald Trump stated that he had instructed the Pentagon to immediately resume nuclear weapons testing, mentioning that other countries were already doing so. Trump did not specify what type of tests he was referring to or whether this involved explosive testing of nuclear warheads.
