Geneva (ST) – Alicia Sanders-Zakre, the Policy and Research Coordinator at the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), announced that Washington has deployed about 150 nuclear warheads in Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkey.
Tass News Agency quoted Zakre as saying: “While there is no official confirmation or denial, we know that there are nuclear weapons deployed in five countries in Europe and Asia within the American air bases”, without specifying when these weapons were deployed.
In turn, the coordinator of the ICAN program, Susie Snyder, indicated that German officials have acknowledged the existence of these weapons, describing “the issue of ensuring transparency in the field of nuclear arsenals as a serious problem”.
“ICNA is incredibly concerned about the deployment of this type of weapon in any European country, because such actions increase the risk of nuclear war,” Snyder added.
Snyder revealed that US spending on 2022 to maintain its nuclear arsenal amounted to $43.7 billion, nearly five times what Russia spent, and about four times what China spent.
It is noteworthy that the ICNA is a coalition of non-governmental organizations founded in 2007 in Melbourne, Australia, and it aims to achieve complete nuclear disarmament, and in 2017 the campaign won the Nobel Peace Prize.
Najla Khoury