Moscow has reserved the right to respond with nuclear weapons if necessary
Rhetoric involving the deploying nuclear warheads is concerning, the State Department has said, commenting on Moscow’s response to missile plans of Berlin and Washington.
Earlier this month, the US and Germany announced “episodic deployments” of long-range capabilities in Europe. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said that Moscow will keep all options on the table if this happens.
“Any kind of rhetoric about the use or deployment of nuclear warheads is of course concerning and something we will pay close attention to,” State Department deputy spokesman Vedant Patel told reporters during the regular press briefing on Thursday.
“This is something we have seen the Russians do and say, thump their chests a bit,” Patel added, declining to speculate further.
Earlier in the day, Ryabkov said that Moscow would not impose any “internal restraints” on its response to US missile deployment and seek “the broadest possible” number of options, including equipping its missile systems with nuclear warheads.
Ryabkov accused the West of using “trumped-up pretexts” and false accusations of Russian threats in order to pursue a strategy of escalation. While regrettable, this will not stop Russia from ensuring its own national security, he added.
According to the joint US-German press release dated July 10, the US “will begin episodic deployments of the long-range fires capabilities of its Multi-Domain Task Force in Germany in 2026.”
Among the weapons that could end up deployed to Germany are SM-6 anti-aircraft missiles, Tomahawk land-attack cruise missiles, and hypersonic weapons that are still in development.
Stationing such systems in Europe was banned under the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, but the US unilaterally withdrew from it in 2019.
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has described the missile plan as a deterrent against “the Russian threat of the Iskander [missiles] in Kaliningrad” and insisted it did not amount to an escalation.
The Iskander is a short-range missile system in service since 2006. Moscow stationed several nuclear-capable batteries in the Kaliningrad enclave in 2016, responding to the ramp-up of NATO forces in the region. They were reinforced in August 2022 by Kinzhal air-to-surface hypersonic missiles, as Finland and Sweden sought membership in the US-led bloc.
