MOSCOW, June 19. /TASS/. Moscow demands that Washington withdraw all US nuclear weapons from Europe and eliminate the infrastructure for their deployment, Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a briefing.
"Regardless of the combat readiness of the weapons allocated for NATO's joint nuclear missions, this extremely destabilizing practice in itself remains the most serious problem for the security of the continent," the diplomat said. "Our demands in this regard remain unchanged and include the withdrawal of all US nuclear weapons from Europe, as well as the elimination of the infrastructure for their deployment there," she emphasized.
Zakharova pointed out that said missions are based on the forward deployment of US weapons in Europe "thousands of kilometers away from the US national territory and within operational reach of Russian territory."
Earlier, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in an interview with The Daily Telegraph that NATO member states have begun consultations on the need to put nuclear weapons on alert. He also said that the United States and its European allies are currently updating their nuclear arsenals.