NATO says no need to boost nuke alert
There is no need to boost the threat alert levels of NATO’s nuclear forces in response to actions by Russia, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told the Associated Press on Tuesday after meeting with Polish President Andrzej Duda. The pair met at an air base in Lask, where the alliance keeps F-15 and F-16 fighter jets.
“We will always do what is needed to protect and defend our allies, but we don’t think there is any need now to change the alert levels of NATO’s nuclear forces,” he continued.
Moscow announced on Monday that its land, air and sea nuclear forces were being placed on high alert in the wake of rhetoric coming from the West regarding its military offensive in Ukraine.
Russian and Ukrainian delegations met for negotiations on Monday at the Belarusian border. Another round of talks is reportedly in the works.
Stoltenberg declared the “horrendous, horrific invasion” of Ukraine was “a brutality that has to stop immediately,” as the US recently sent 5,000 additional troops to Poland and Romania and a detachment of French troops also headed to Romania.
It is the responsibility of NATO to “ensure that we don’t see a development where a conflict in Ukraine spiraled out of control and becomes a full-fledged confrontation between NATO and Russia in Europe,” the NATO leader said, insisting alliance officials are “able to maintain deconfliction [contacts] with Russia.”
