NATO Plans to Fly Nuclear-Capable Aircraft in Annual 'Deterrence' Exercises

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is set to fly nuclear-capable aircraft as part of a "deterrence" exercise next week as Russian nuclear concerns grow.

The annual exercise, called "Steadfast Noon," was planned before Russian President Vladimir Putin launched the Ukraine "special military operation" in February and will mainly take place more than 625 miles from Russia, the Associated Press reported. It will involve 14 NATO members, as well as nuclear-capable aircraft, conventional jets, surveillance and refueling aircraft.

It will not, however, involve live nuclear bombs, the AP reported.

The exercise comes as fears continue to mount that Putin could turn to nuclear weapons if his military faces defeat in Ukraine, which has made significant advances since September, taking back thousands of square miles of formerly occupied territory in southern and eastern parts of the country.

Putin pledged Russia would "use all the means at our disposal" to "protect Russia and our people" during a national address last month. Meanwhile, U.S. President Joe Biden warned of a nuclear "Armageddon" last week, one of his administration's most direct acknowledgments of the Russian nuclear threat.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg addressed the timing of the exercise in remarks to reporters on Tuesday.

"It would send a very wrong signal if we suddenly now cancelled a routine, longtime planned exercise because of the war in Ukraine. That would be absolutely the wrong signal to send," he said.

He described NATO's military strength as "the best way to prevent escalation." Of the 30 NATO member states, only three—the United States, United Kingdom and France— have nuclear weapons that could be deployed in the case of nuclear war.

"We are there to preserve peace, to prevent escalation and prevent any attack on NATO Allied countries. So if we now created the grounds for any misunderstanding, miscalculation in Moscow about our willingness to protect and defend all Allies, we would increase the risk of escalation and that's the last thing we will do," Stoltenberg said.

Stoltenberg said NATO has been monitoring Putin's nuclear weapons and has not seen any changes in their "posture."

Daniel Högsta, campaigns coordinator for the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), condemned the exercise in a statement to Newsweek.

"Every year, NATO calls these manoeuvres a 'deterrence exercise.' Following Russia's egregious nuclear threats in the context of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, these exercises by NATO do nothing to calm fears about the potential use of nuclear weapons," the statement said. "All nuclear exercises, even those preparing for the use of so-called tactical weapons, imply the willingness to indiscriminately kill and injure tens of thousands of people, overwhelm the capacity of medical and emergency services to respond and cause lasting environmental disasters, and this particular one, Steadfast, in one of the world's most densely populated regions."

Russia has struggled to achieve any substantial goals in Ukraine after more than seven months of fighting. Experts fear Putin could turn to nuclear weapons if he feels like Russia is facing defeat. Moscow launched non-nuclear strikes this week against several Ukrainian cities, resulting in at least 11 deaths.

"The citizens of Russia can rest assured that the territorial integrity of our Motherland, our independence and freedom will be defended—I repeat—by all the systems available to us," Putin said last month. "Those who are using nuclear blackmail against us should know that the wind rose can turn around."

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Tuesday said the West was spreading false claims about Russia's intention and that they would only deploy nuclear weapons if Russia faced imminent destruction, according to the AP.

Newsweek reached out to the White House for comment.

Update 10/15/2022, 9:10 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with a statement from ICAN.