|
Lask
air
base
(Poland),
Mar
1:
Despite
Russia’s
threats,
the
chief
of
the
NATO
on
Tuesday
said
that
the
alliance
sees
no
need
to
change
its
nuclear
weapons
alert
level.
Speaking
with
the
Associated
Press,
the
alliance’s
secretary-general,
Jens
Stoltenberg,
“We
will
always
do
what
is
needed
to
protect
and
defend
our
allies,
but
we
don’t
think
there
is
any
need
now
to
change
the
alert
levels
of
NATO’s
nuclear
forces,”
He
made
the
statement
after
talks
on
European
security
with
Polish
President
Andrzej
Duda.
They
met
at
an
air
base
in
Lask,
central
Poland,
where
NATO’s
Polish
and
US
fighter
jets
are
based.
The
Kremlin
has
raised
the
spectre
of
nuclear
war,
reporting
on
Monday
that
its
land,
air
and
sea
nuclear
forces
were
on
high
alert
following
President
Vladimir
Putin’s
weekend
order.
NATO
itself
has
no
nuclear
weapons,
but
three
of
its
members,
the
United
States,
Britain
and
France,
do.
Stoltenberg
stressed
that
Russia
has
signed
a
number
of
agreements,
agreeing
that
nuclear
war
cannot
be
won
and
should
not
be
fought.
The
United
States
recently
reinforced
the
eastern
flank
of
NATO’s
territory
with
some
5,000
additional
troops.
Meanwhile,
Russian
shelling
pounded
civilian
targets
in
Ukraine’s
second-largest
city
again
Tuesday
and
a
40-mile
convoy
of
tanks
and
other
vehicles
threatened
the
capital
–
tactics
Ukraine’s
embattled
president
said
were
designed
to
force
him
into
concessions
in
Europe’s
largest
ground
war
in
generations.
With
the
Kremlin
increasingly
isolated
by
tough
economic
sanctions
that
have
tanked
the
ruble
currency,
Russian
troops
attempted
to
advance
on
Ukraine’s
two
biggest
cities.
AFP
Story first published: Tuesday, March 1, 2022, 19:29 [IST]