The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) began this Monday, October 17, its regular exercises of nuclear deterrence, in a context of tensions with Russia due to the veiled threats of using atomic weapons from Moscow to defend its territory.
The general secretary of the I’LL TAKEJens Stoltenberg, rejected any calls to cancel the drill after Russian President Vladimir Putin stepped up his nuclear rhetoric.
“It would be a very wrong signal if we suddenly canceled a long-planned routine exercise due to the war in Ukraine,” Stoltenberg said last week.
60 NATO aircraft
The military alliance insisted that it is a “recurring and routine training”, which will last until October 30, and that it had been planned before Moscow invaded Ukraine in February, so it is not related to the current situation. .
The exercise includes B-52 long-range bombers. In total, some 60 aircraft will carry out training flights over Belgium, the United Kingdom and the North Sea.
NATO says it has not detected any change in Russia’s nuclear posture despite tougher language from the Russian government.
The Borrell controversy
The nuclear deterrence exercises also have nothing to do with the controversial statements by Josep Borrell, head of Diplomacy of the European Union, about NATO’s response to the war launched by Russia against Ukraine.
Borrell surprised the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) last Friday by assuring that “any nuclear attack against Ukraine will lead to a response, not a nuclear response, but a military response so powerful that the Russian army will be annihilated.”
This announcement surprised and worried senior officials of NATO and the delegations of EU member countries to the military alliance, according to reactions obtained by AFP. However, the controversial phrase did not provoke any official comment.