U.S. to reportedly station 20 nuclear weapons in Germany: media

PanARMENIAN.Net - The United States Air Force (USAF) is going to station 20 new B61-12 nuclear bombs in Germany, each 80 times more destructive than the one used on Hiroshima, Press TV reports citing Germany’s ZDF public television network.

The nukes will be deployed to Luftwaffe’s Büchel Air Base in the western state of Rhineland-Palatinate, which is already host to USAF nuclear bombs stored there since 2007 under a nuclear sharing deal, Germany’s ZDF public television network reported on Tuesday, September 22.

According to the report, in the third quarter of the current year, the base will receive budget for the future storage and deployment of the new atomic weapons, which are considered to be on the borderline between strategic and tactical, as well as funding for upgrading the German Panavia Tornado multipurpose aircraft that are also stationed in the base and are capable of deploying older types of nukes.

Moscow has referred to the new move to upgrade Büchel Air Base’s nuclear arsenal as a threat from NATO to Russia's borders, Press TV says.

“The comprehensive analysis of the situation points to the threat posed by the increasing military capability of NATO and its endowment with global functions, which it performs in violation of the international law, as well as the encroachment of the military infrastructure of NATO members on the borders of the Russian Federation,” said Maria Zakharova, the spokesperson for Russia’s Foreign Ministry, in an interview with ZDF on Tuesday.

According to Zakharova, the move would be in breach of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) to prevent the spread of atomic weapons. A total of 191 countries have joined the NPT, which was enforced in 1970.