Russia Warns That Production Of New US Nukes Has Increased Risk Of Nuclear War

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has accused the US of making a nuclear conflict even more likely after the Trump administration ordered the production of new nuclear warheads

The US National Nuclear Security Agency (NNSA) confirmed Monday that it had started to produce a new low-yield nuclear warhead, the W76-2. The US Navy is expected to receive the first batch of warheads in September.

Press TV reports: The new warhead was one of the three key changes introduced in the Trump administration’s so-called Nuclear Posture Review (NPR). The other changes included development of a new sea-launched cruise missile and increased plutonium pit production over the next decade.

During a joint press conference with his Iraqi counterpart Mohamed Ali al-Hakim in Moscow, Lavrov said Wednesday that Russia had already warned about the potential risks of weapons upon the unveiling of the NPR.

“Even then we expressed serious concern that the development of such low-yield ammunition lowers the threshold for the use of nuclear weapons and, of course, increases the risk of a nuclear conflict,” he said.

The NNSA said in its statement that the first production unit of the new warhead, dubbed W76-2, was in production at the Pantax Plant in Texas and would be delivered to the US military by the end of 2019 fiscal year.

The new nuclear device is based on the W76-1 warhead the US Navy has long been using to arm its Trident ballistic missiles.

According to reports, the warhead is designed to be smaller than the nuclear bomb the US detonated at Hiroshima, Japan, during the Second World War.

Experts have warned that a low-yield nuclear weapon is still very powerful, considering that the atomic bomb used on Hiroshima killed between 60,000 and 80,000 people.

Lavrov said it remained to be seen whether the European Union would take action or would simply turn its back on Washington’s move like it has done in similar cases in the past.

“It is significant to see what role was left for Europe by the US in these plans and what role Europe is ready to play, taking into consideration, that Europe supported the US’ previous unilateral actions,” he said.
Russia and the US have been at odds over Trump’s threats to leave the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), a landmark Cold War-era arms control treaty that requires them to eliminate all their nuclear and conventional missiles with ranges of 1,000–5,500 km (620–3,420 mi).

A White House official, who asked not to be identified, told Bloombergon Monday that Washington would abandon INF unless Russia destroys all of its ground-launched cruise missiles known as 9M729, which the US insists is in violation of the treaty.

The senior Russian diplomat renewed his country’s calls for resuming negotiations but doubted Washington’s willingness to sit down for talks.