US should bring back their nuclear weapons from abroad: Antonov

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
29 Oct 2022 08:13
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Russia's Ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov urges the US to return all its nuclear weapons from Europe.

US Air Force F-35 Lightning performs a drop test of a B61-12.

Russian Ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov has requested that Washington abide by the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons treaty (NPT) and relocate all its nuclear weapons deployed abroad back to the country, which includes dismantling the infrastructure used for their storage and use.

"In this regard, I once again urge Washington to return all nuclear weapons stationed abroad to national territory and to eliminate the foreign infrastructure for their storage and maintenance," said Antonov, stressing that the US needs to "stop the practice of testing the use of such munitions with the involvement of military personnel of non-nuclear states, as part of NATO ‘joint nuclear missions,’ contrary to the fundamental principles of the NPT (Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons)."

Earlier this week, Politico claimed, citing diplomatic sources, that the US has hastened the deployment of a modernized B61-12 nuclear weapon at NATO bases in Europe, with a target date of the end of 2022 [December] instead of 2023. US officials reportedly informed NATO members at a confidential conference in Brussels in October.

One source noted, "All of our TNW (tactical nuclear weapons) are located in centralized storage facilities in Russia and cannot pose a threat to the United States," adding that claims about the Russian nuclear arsenal being greatly larger than that of the US are mere "speculations".

Although the Pentagon has refrained from making any specific connections to current events, the decision was made in light of the Ukraine conflict, according to the Politico report.

The modernized B61-12 atomic bomb's initial manufacturing sample was reportedly delivered to the Department of Defense by the US military-industrial complex in December 2021. Since 1968, the B61 aerial bomb has undergone several upgrades. The upgraded bomb can be dropped from the F-15, F-16, F-35, Tornado, as well as the B2 and B-21 strategic bombers.