Proliferation After Expansion?
American nuclear weapons could be relocated
to new NATO member states
by Alla Yaroshinskaya, March 13, 2006

Will American nuclear weapons shift to Eastern Europe? While the old members of NATO are seeking to get rid of American nuclear weapons from their territories, the new members of NATO may have to accept these weapons instead.

A few weeks ago, the German parliament debated the presence of American nuclear weapons on the territory of Germany. A group of nine members proposed a resolution calling on NATO and United States to remove the most dangerous kind of weapons of mass destruction from Germany. This proposal didn't emerge from a vacuum; opinion polls in Germany show 76% support for the idea that Washington should take its nuclear bombs and missiles back to the US.

This is the second resolution of this kind. The first was not only debated but also approved by members of Belgian parliament in summer of 2005. They called on NATO to remove nuclear weapons from all of Europe.

Unfortunately, the Russian media haven't noticed any of these events, although military bases of NATO are being established near the borders of Russia and the question is whether nuclear weapons will be spread to the territories of the countries that have joined NATO in the last few years.

Now it is known that US nuclear weapons of the so-called "advance deployment" are located in Belgium, Germany, Netherlands, Italy, Turkey and Britain. These countries are participants of the secret "programs of cooperation" and their military equipment is being certified for delivery of nuclear weapons.

Due to the classified nature of the information it is difficult to give an accurate number of nuclear weapons located in Western Europe. Ten years ago, a figure of 520 seemed the most credible. Now Western experts are saying 420. According to unofficial information, nuclear ammunition of "advanced deployment" is stored at 16 bases and American weapons are stored at 15 of them. Five of these 15 bases belong to the US Air Force and ten belong to the armed forces of the countries in whose territories they are located.

According to unofficial information, in Germany American nuclear bombs are at the US Air Force bases in Buhel, Memmingen, Norfenich, Rammstein, Spandalen and Bruggen. For their delivery it is planned to use Tornado airplanes of the air forces of Germany and UK and F-16 of the US Air Force. In Italy nuclear bombs are stored at the air bases in Aviano, Gedi-Torre and Rimini (residents of entire Europe are so fond of coming to this resort). They can be delivered by F-16 of the US Air Force and Tornado of the Italian Air Force. American nuclear bombs are also stationed in Britain. These would be carried by F-15s flying from military bases in the US. Turkey has also received nuclear "gifts" from Washington (the Balekisir, Incirlik and Murted bases).

Meanwhile, there remains the question of how all this fits in with the Nuclear Weapons Non-Proliferation Treaty. The NPT has been also signed by all non-nuclear member states of NATO that had nuclear weapons of the US on their territories. These are their obligations: "Not to accept transfer of nuclear weapons or nuclear explosive devices or control over such weapon or explosive device, directly or indirectly." The obligations undertaken by the United States, Britain, and other nuclear states are: "Not to transfer nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices or control over any such weapon or explosive device, directly or indirectly, to any other recipient."

The response of NATO to this question has been known for a long time. NATO does not possess nuclear weapons and this is property of the United States and Britain. The US keeps repeating: we have not transferred nuclear weapons to anyone, they belong only to us, and the button is in our hands too.

Meanwhile, representatives of non-nuclear states are attracted to nuclear weapons of NATO, participate in approval of schemes for location and modernization of nuclear arsenals, develop the systems for command, control and communications.

Nuclear weapons or control over them can be transferred to non-nuclear member states of NATO "only if a decision is made to engage into a war during which the terms of the treaty on nonproliferation of nuclear weapons lose the force." Nobody takes into account the fact that non-nuclear states train and prepare their personnel for a possible nuclear mission on the full scale in peacetime.

Quite recently, Guy Roberts, director of the nuclear policy section of the NATO department of policy and defense planning, said directly: "Deployment of nuclear weapons of the US in Europe is one of the forms of distribution of responsibility, which is fully supported by member states of NATO; this strengthens the process of consultations and ensures a special trans-Atlantic connection between all NATO member states." Just notice the key words "all NATO member states." This means novices too.

Source: Nezavisimaya Gazeta, No. 47, March 10, 2006, p. 9

Translated by Pavel Pushkin