The upgraded B61-12 nuclear bombs are unlikely to be used against Russia in the midst of Moscow’s ongoing special military operation in Ukraine, a move which would risk triggering a nuclear war, retired Turkish Army general Beyazit Karatas has told Sputnik.
He explained that such bombs, which have been in service in the US since 1968, typically detonate underground, causing an earthquake effect and destroying shelters, underground command centers and atomic bomb storage sites.
“This is part of NATO's nuclear deterrence policy,” Karatas said, adding that the B61-12 bombs first targeted the Soviet Union and currently are directed against Russia, following the USSR’s disintegration in 1991.
“However, the likelihood of these bombs being used within the Ukraine crisis is low. Their use would mean the beginning of a nuclear war, which is why everyone behaves carefully and prudently,” the retired Turkish general argued.
The comments followed US media claiming that in line with the White House’s new plans, the deployment of modernized B61-12 nuclear bomb at NATO bases in Europe is scheduled for end of 2022 rather than 2023.
“While we aren’t going to discuss details of our nuclear arsenal, modernization of US B61 nuclear weapons has been underway for years and plans to safely and responsibly swap out older weapons for the upgraded B61-12 versions is part of a long-planned and scheduled modernization effort. It is in no way linked to current events in Ukraine and was not sped up in any way,” Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder said.
In December 2021, it was reported that the US military-industrial complex had handed over to the Pentagon the first production sample of the upgraded B61-12 atomic bomb.
The Russian Foreign Ministry, in turn, made it clear earlier this month that Moscow does not threaten anyone with nuclear weapons, but that it is Western powers who use nuclear rhetoric, trying to make it look like Russia is preparing to deliver strikes using weapons of mass destruction.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly said that there could be no winners in a nuclear war, noting that Moscow consistently followed the letter and spirit of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT).
Under the Russian Military Doctrine and the Fundamentals of State Policy in the Field of Nuclear Deterrence, Moscow can only refer to a nuclear strike in the event of aggression against Russia or its allies with the use of weapons of mass destruction, or aggression with the use of conventional weapons, when the existence of the state itself is threatened.