Russia slams US deployment of new nukes in Europe, vows response

Russia has denounced rapid deployment of modernized US B61 tactical nuclear weapons at NATO bases in Europe, saying the move would lower the “nuclear threshold” and prompt Moscow’s revision of its military plans.

"We cannot ignore the plans to modernize nuclear weapons, those free-fall bombs that are in Europe," RIA news agency Saturday quoted Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko as saying.

"The United States is modernizing them, increasing their accuracy and reducing the power of the nuclear charge, that is, they turn these weapons into 'battlefield weapons', thereby reducing the nuclear threshold," Grushko added, suggesting reactive measures.

The development came after Politico reported Friday that Washington declared during a meeting of the US-led NATO military alliance that it would accelerate the deployment of a modernized version of the B61 -- the B61-12 -- with the new weapons arriving at European bases in December, several months earlier than planned.

The 12-ft B61-12 gravity bomb carries a lower yield nuclear warhead than many earlier versions but is more accurate and can penetrate below ground, according to a research study conducted by the Federation of American Scientists.

Russia, meanwhile, maintains nearly 2,000 “working tactical nuclear weapons,” according to Western press reports, which note that the US has around 200 such weapons, half of which are at bases in Italy, Germany, Turkey, Belgium and the Netherlands.

SS