The United States may deploy more strategic nuclear weapons to counter growing threats from Russia, China and other adversaries. Prannoy Bhaddi, the top National Security Council arms control officer of the United States, gave this information on Friday (June 7).
At an event on Friday, Prannoy Bhaddi spoke about new policies to apply more effective pressure on China and Russia for not responding to US calls for arms limitation. It was there that he announced that the US administration would deploy more strategic nuclear weapons.
He said, despite our requests, no change was seen in the arsenal of the enemy. So we ourselves felt the need to change our weapons deployment in the coming years. If President Joe Biden makes such a decision, he must be fully prepared to implement it.
If we implement this decision, we will understand that we need more nuclear weapons to deter ‘enemies’ and to protect the American people, allies and partners.
According to the 2010 New Start agreement with Russia, the US can currently deploy a maximum of 1,550 strategic nuclear weapons. However, Russia pulled out of the deal last year, accusing it of aiding Ukraine in the war. Washington has claimed that this decision of Moscow is illegal.
A year before Prannoy Bhaddi, U.S. National Security Advisor Jack Sullivan said the U.S. did not need to increase the deployment of strategic nuclear weapons to counter the weapons threats from Russia and China. At that time, he offered the two countries to discuss arms control without any preconditions.
Prannoy Vaddi said the Biden administration is committed to international arms control and nuclear non-proliferation. But he alleged that Russia, China and North Korea were expanding their nuclear arsenals at an alarming rate. Moreover, the country is not showing much interest in controlling the three weapons.
He claimed that these three countries and the Middle Eastern country Iran are increasing cooperation and coordination between each other, which is becoming a threat to the United States and its allies. At the same time, their activities are increasing the regional tension.
Source: Reuters
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