With plans to go to war with Russia, the U.S. will station new atomic weapons and 20 new nuclear bombs in Germany, according to Tuesday reports from Germany’s ZDF public television network.
Each of the 20 new American nuclear bombs are four times the destructive power of the one that was used on Hiroshima in 1945, according to the article.
“With the new bombs the boundaries blur between tactical and strategic nuclear weapons,” Hans Kristensen, the Director of the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists, told ZDF.
In June, Russian Foreign Ministry warned the U.S. against stationing its nuclear weapons in Europe to avoid “dangerous consequences.”
These “new attack options against Russia” present “a conscious provocation of our Russian neighbors,” according to Willy Wimmer, a former Parliamentary State Secretary in Defense Ministry of German’s Chancellor Angela Merkel’s own conservative party.
Back in March 2010, the Bundestag ruled by a large majority, expressing the will of most Germans, that the government should press for the withdrawal of U.S. nuclear weapons from Germany.
“But instead there will be these new bombs,” according to German Economic News, referring to 20 new nuclear bombs to be stationed in Germany.
The news have already sparked a great deal of outrage in Russia, with a spokeswoman of Russian Foreign Minister, Maria Zakharova, saying that “This is an infringement of Articles 1 and 2 of the Treaty on Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.”
The treaty Zakharova is referring to is something Russia has repeatedly been accused of violating. It’s the treaty that guarantees non-nuclear states that nuclear powers will not take advantage of their nuclear status to take over the world.
Putin: We will aim our forces at territories where threat comes
Russian President Vladimir Putin responded to NATO’s expansion in Eastern Europe by saying flat out that Russia “will be forced to aim our armed forces … at those territories from where the threat comes.”
“It is NATO that is moving towards our border and we aren’t moving anywhere,” Putin then added, speaking to journalists in June.
How does Washington explain the policy to get closer to Russian borders with its weapons, hardware, military bases and nuclear bombs?
Over recent months, there have been numerous reports by leading U.S. media outlets – often citing U.S. military sources and officials of the U.S. administration – that the U.S. is getting closer to Russian borders only because it’s worried Russia might violate the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) signed in 1987.
However, many of such sources cannot certainly say whether there have been indications of Russia violating the INF treaty, so the U.S. implements ways to put pressure on Moscow and convince it in complying with the treaty.
Washington has repeatedly expressed its concerns over Russia’s P-500 missiles for Iskander-M, which have the range of 500 km (300 miles), while the treaty bans missiles with intermediate ranges between 500 - 5,500 km (300 - 3,400 miles).
However, it must be noted that the U.S. itself has been developing target-missiles for testing of anti-ballistic missile systems since the 1990s. Basically, such target-missiles are intermediate-range missiles without the warheads.
The U.S. has also been stationing in Europe its Standard SM-3 launching systems, which are capable of launching Tomahawk cruise missiles.
Russian FM warned the U.S. of “dangerous consequences”
In June, Russian Foreign Ministry warned the U.S. that deployment of new military weaponry anywhere near Russian borders would “entail dangerous consequences,” with some experts interpreting it as a ‘threat’.
“The United States is inciting tensions and carefully nurturing their European allies' anti-Russian phobias in order to use the current difficult situation for further expanding its military presence and influence in Europe,” the Russian Foreign Ministry stated on its official website.
“We hope that reason will prevail and it will be possible to save the situation in Europe from sliding toward a military standoff which could entail dangerous consequences,” the Russian Foreign Ministry warned.
Russia’s nuclear arsenal currently includes military stockpile of nearly 4,500 nuclear warheads with about 1,800 strategic warheads deployed on missiles and at bomber bases. Another 700 strategic warheads are in reserves with roughly 2,700 non-strategic warheads. On top of that, about 3,500 of retired warheads await dismantlement.
Only Russia can destroy the U.S.
Earlier this year, the U.K. supported U.S. foreign policy aimed against Russia.
The Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said Britain could once again host U.S. nuclear missiles on its territory amidescalating tensions with Russia.
Hammond said the government ‘would look at the case’ for cruise missiles to be stationed in the U.K. and added that the West needed to send ‘clear signals’ to Putin amid ‘worrying signs’ of increased military activity by Russian forces.
In June, Putin denounced U.S. “scaremongering,” saying that the U.S. is a global empire of military bases, and adding that Russia has “virtually no bases abroad.”
The ones owned by Russia are outdated Soviet-era relics. “I think that only an insane person and only in a dream can imagine that Russia would suddenly attack NATO,” Putin told journalists.
ValueWalk reported earlier this month that Russia is the only country in the world capable of destroying the U.S., according to U.S. Ambassador Linton Brooks.
Russia’s actions in Syria earlier this month have significantly escalated tensions between the Kremlin and Washington. It must be noted that even before Russia’s threatening actions in Syria in September, the relations between the U.S. and Russia had already been at its worst since the end of the Cold War.
This month, Russia has been boosting its military presence in Syria, supporting the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, while the U.S. wants his government removed from power.