Tactical Nuclear Weapons and NATO.pdf - Program on Strategic ...

Reducing Non-Strategic <strong>Nuclear</strong> <strong>Weapons</strong>.
The issue of deep reductions of NSNWs, particularly
Russian ones, has been discussed very actively
lately. The so-called disparity between western nonstrategic
nuclear arsenals <strong>and</strong> the greater Russian
stockpiles of short-range nuclear weapons has been
reflected, first, in the new Strategic Concept of the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization adopted in Lisbon, Portugal,
in November 2010, 21 <strong>and</strong>, second, in the Resolution
on Advice <strong>and</strong> Consent regarding the ratification
of the New U.S.-Russian START Treaty adopted by
the U.S. Senate in December 2010. The latter document
calls in part,
upon the President to pursue, following consultation
with allies, an agreement with the Russian Federation
that would address the disparity between the tactical
weapons stockpiles of the Russian Federation <strong>and</strong> the
United States <strong>and</strong> would secure <strong>and</strong> reduce tactical
nuclear weapons in a verifiable manner. 22
Western concerns as regards Russian NSNWs are
based on the following factors:
• reductions by the United States <strong>and</strong> Russia of
their strategic nuclear arsenals will increase
the Russian advantage in nuclear weapons as a
whole;
• in case of a serious military conflict, TNWs belonging
to the general purpose forces may be
employed at an early stage of the conflict with
a high degree of nuclear escalation;
• NSNWs are believed not to be equipped with
the same highly reliable systems preventing
unauthorized use as are strategic nuclear weapons,
which makes the possibility of an unauthorized
nuclear strike much higher;
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