Europe Talks Nuclear Weapons After US Delivers Reality Check

For now, Europe’s best move would be to develop its advanced non-nuclear weapons arsenal, which can threaten valuable targets inside Russia and blunt an invasion, according to Darya Dolzikova, a senior researcher at the Royal United Services Institute. “I don’t see a pan-European nuclear deterrent,” said Dolzikova, author of a recent report on nuclear deterrence in Europe. “I don’t think that’s feasible. What I do think there is room to do is ask, ‘How do the French and the British think about their own domestic deterrents, and how does that affect European security?’” France and the UK have about 400 deployed warheads between them. That compares with America’s 1,670, a number that could grow following the expiration this month of the New START treaty between the US and Russia that controlled nuclear arms. Despite their smaller arsenal, the French and British warheads have enough explosive power to destroy hundreds of cities, according to Dolzikova. Russia, by contrast, is more nimble, its vast arsenal including smaller weapons giving it more options for targets and how it responds in any escalation.