NATO leaders fail to acknowledge role in fueling nuclear tensions with Russia — ICAN

GENEVA, July 8. /TASS/. NATO leaders attending the summit in Ankara failed to acknowledge their own role in escalating nuclear tensions with Russia, according to a statement by the Nobel Peace Prize-winning International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN).

"NATO leaders meeting in Ankara <...> failed to acknowledge <…> their own responsibility for heightened nuclear tensions that results from the modernization and expansion of the US, British and French nuclear arsenals; the push to extend the deployment of US nuclear weapons closer to Russia, and the discussions about a new French nuclear umbrella over countries near Russia," the statement said.

According to ICAN Executive Director Melissa Parke, "NATO outspends Russia 10 times on nuclear weapons and yet still feels threatened by Moscow."

"How much more needs to be spent for NATO countries to feel secure? How many more weapons in how many more countries?" she was quoted as saying in a press release.

Parke argued that nuclear weapons do not make NATO countries safer, but instead turn them into targets and increase the risk of a devastating conflict.