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200 US B61 nuclear bombs are in Europe. Photo: SCMP Pictures

US now likely to keep tactical nuclear weapons in Europe

Russia's actions in Ukraine and Putin's threats thwart chances weapons would be withdrawn

MCT

Last summer in Berlin, President Barack Obama called for "bold reductions" in US and Russian tactical nuclear weapons to ease the risk of annihilation in Europe.

Obama was referring to the roughly 200 B61 nuclear bombs that the US has deployed in five Nato nations stretching from the Netherlands to Turkey - and a Russian arsenal estimated at 2,000 tactical weapons.

But since last summer, that hopeful outlook has evaporated. Russia's incursions into Ukraine and nuclear threats made by Russian President Vladimir Putin have killed any chance that the US would withdraw its tactical nuclear weapons anytime soon.

"Withdrawing our relatively few weapons would be the absolute wrong signal at this moment," said James Stavridis, the retired US admiral who was Nato chief until last year and is now the dean of the Fletcher School of international affairs at Tufts University. "Throughout my period of command as the Nato supreme allied commander, my personal view was that it was time to consider withdrawing the weapons from Europe," he said.

"However, given Russian activities of the past months and the potential for a return to a period of significant friction between Russia and the alliance, I now believe we should keep the weapons in Europe, despite the costs and risks associated with doing so."

Support for nuclear deterrence has been echoing across Europe. Newer members of the Nato, including Poland and the Czech Republic, have advocated the continued deployment of US nuclear weapons in Europe.

The maintenance of the B61 nuclear force on European soil involves trade-offs of cost, risk and deterrence.

The weapons spread over the continent are exposed to potential theft or accidents. But their presence is reassuring to some Nato allies, who believe the weapons show a strong US commitment to their security. And proposed modifications to the B61 under a US$8.1 billion Energy Department programme should make them more accurate, enhancing their deterrence against Russia.

Sleek and streamlined, packing an explosive force of up to 700 million pounds of TNT, the B61 thermonuclear weapon is the last of its kind, the only tactical nuclear bomb in the US arsenal.

Unlike strategic weapons, designed to destroy cities and hardened military targets, the tactical weapons are intended for use on a battlefield, delivered by aircraft at treetop level or from high altitudes. The bomb was designed in the 1960s during the Johnson administration. It was among the first compact nuclear weapons, just 13 inches in diameter. The B61 comes in five models, one able to reduce its explosive power to just 2 per cent of the bomb used in the second world war on Hiroshima, according to outside estimates.

The US began sending battlefield nuclear weapons to Europe in the 1950s.

 

Kremlin considers plan to cut off internet in Russia in a crisis

The Kremlin is considering radical plans to unplug Russia from the global internet in the event of a serious military confrontation or big anti-government protests at home, Russian officials have hinted.

President Vladimir Putin will convene a meeting of his security council today. It will discuss what steps Moscow might take to disconnect Russian citizens from the web "in an emergency", the Vedomosti newspaper reported. The goal would be to strengthen Russia's sovereignty in cyberspace.

The proposals could also bring the domain .ru under state control, it suggested.

Russian TV and most of the country's newspapers are under the Kremlin's thumb. But unlike in China, the Russian internet has so far remained a comparatively open place for discussion, albeit one contested by state-sponsored bloggers and Putin fans.

The move comes at a time when Russia has been bitterly critical of the Western media, which Moscow says has adopted a biased attitude towards events in Ukraine.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: US likely to keep arsenal in Europe
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