MOSCOW: The Kremlin said on Monday a remark by NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg that the military alliance was holding talks on deploying more nuclear weapons was an “escalation of tension.”
Stoltenberg told Britain’s Telegraph newspaper that NATO members were consulting about deploying more nuclear weapons, taking them out of storage and placing them on standby in the face of a growing threat from Russia and China.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Stoltenberg’s comments appeared to contradict a communique issued at a weekend conference in Switzerland that said any threat or use of nuclear weapons in the Ukraine context was inadmissible.
The talks, held at the behest of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, were billed as a “peace summit” although Moscow was not invited.
“This is nothing but another escalation of tension,” Peskov said of the NATO secretary general’s remarks.
Stoltenberg later said Russia was trying to create confusion and that his comments referred to the modernization of NATO’s nuclear deterrent, including the replacement of F-16 jets with F-35s and the modernization of weapons deployed in Europe, which he said has been known for a long time.
“Russia is trying a way to always also create a situation where they can blame NATO, and the reality is that NATO is transparent,” Stoltenberg told reporters on a visit to Washington.
NATO had earlier sought to clarify Stoltenberg’s remarks, saying there were no significant changes to its nuclear posture.
“NATO is committed to ensuring a safe, secure and effective nuclear deterrent,” NATO spokesperson Farah Dakhlallah said.
“For that purpose, we have an ongoing modernization program to replace legacy weapons and aircraft,” she said. “Beyond that, there are no significant changes to our nuclear deterrent.”
Russia, which sent troops into Ukraine in 2022, says the United States and its European allies are pushing the world to the brink of nuclear confrontation by giving Ukraine billions of dollars worth of weapons, some of which are being used against Russian territory. President Vladimir Putin has said Russia is technically ready for nuclear war, and that Moscow could use nuclear weapons to defend itself in extreme circumstances.
Russia and the US are by far the world’s biggest nuclear powers, holding about 88 percent of the world’s nuclear weapons, according to the Federation of American Scientists.
The US has about 100 non-strategic B61 nuclear weapons deployed in five European countries — Italy, Germany, Turkiye, Belgium and the Netherlands, according to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. The US has another 100 such weapons within its borders.
Russia has about 1,558 non-strategic nuclear warheads, though arms control experts say it is very difficult to say just how many there are due to secrecy.
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Kremlin calls NATO chief’s nuclear weapons remark an ‘escalation of tension’
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Kremlin calls NATO chief’s nuclear weapons remark an ‘escalation of tension’
- Russia and the US are by far the world’s biggest nuclear powers
Philippine President Marcos hit with impeachment complaint
- Rage over so-called ghost infrastructure projects has been building for months in the archipelago country of 116 million
- President accused of systematically bilking taxpayers out of billions of dollars for bogus flood control projects
MANILA: Members of Philippine civil society groups filed an impeachment complaint against President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. on Thursday, accusing him of systematically bilking taxpayers out of billions of dollars for bogus flood control projects.
Rage over so-called ghost infrastructure projects has been building for months in the archipelago country of 116 million, where entire towns were buried in floodwaters driven by powerful typhoons in the past year.
The filing, endorsed by the Makabayan bloc, a coalition of left-wing political parties, accuses Marcos of betraying the public trust by packing the national budget with projects aimed at redirecting funds to allies.
Under the Philippine Constitution, passage of articles of impeachment in the House of Representatives triggers a Senate trial, where a guilty verdict would mean removal from office and disqualification from future public posts.
A copy of the complaint was filed at the House’s Office of the Secretary General “in accordance with House rules,” petitioners said Thursday, though it was not marked as received as the top official was not present.
“The President institutionalized a mechanism to siphon over ?545.6 billion ($9.2 billion) in flood control funds, directing them into the hands of favored cronies and contractors and converting public coffers into a private war chest for the 2025 (mid-term) elections,” a summary of the filing seen by AFP says.
It also accuses the president of directly soliciting kickbacks, a charge that relies heavily on unproven allegations made by a former congressman who fled the country while under investigation.
Presidential spokeswoman Claire Castro, who told reporters on Thursday that Marcos was recovering after spending the night under medical observation for an undisclosed illness, declined to discuss the filing.
“Let’s wait (to see) its contents, we cannot address that as of now if we don’t have the details of their complaints,” she said.
Marcos has consistently noted that he was the one who put the issue of ghost projects center stage and taken credit for pushing investigations that have seen scores of construction firm owners, government officials and lawmakers implicated.
But complainant Liza Maza told reporters on Thursday she believed the moves were only intended to deflect blame.
“We think the investigation he initiated is just a cover-up,” she said. “Because the truth is, he is the head of this corruption.”
Hours later, a group with ties to former president Rodrigo Duterte showed up at the House of Representatives with their own corruption-based impeachment complaint against the president, only to depart without leaving a copy.
‘Slim chance’
Thursday’s complaint was not the first filed against Marcos this week.
Under the constitution, any citizen can file an impeachment complaint provided it is endorsed by one of the more than 300 members of Congress.
On Monday, a local lawyer brought a case citing Rodrigo Duterte’s arrest and transfer to the International Criminal Court, as well as unproven allegations of drug abuse.
Dennis Coronacion, chair of the political science department at Manila’s University of Santo Tomas, said at the time that the document relied largely on “rehashed or recycled allegations” and lacked “sufficient evidence.”
On Thursday, Coronacion said the new complaint was also unlikely to go far in a Congress packed with Marcos allies.
“(It) has a very slim chance of getting the approval of the House Committee on Justice and (even less) so, in the plenary, because the president still enjoys the support of the members of the House of Representatives,” Coronacion said.
Rage over so-called ghost infrastructure projects has been building for months in the archipelago country of 116 million, where entire towns were buried in floodwaters driven by powerful typhoons in the past year.
The filing, endorsed by the Makabayan bloc, a coalition of left-wing political parties, accuses Marcos of betraying the public trust by packing the national budget with projects aimed at redirecting funds to allies.
Under the Philippine Constitution, passage of articles of impeachment in the House of Representatives triggers a Senate trial, where a guilty verdict would mean removal from office and disqualification from future public posts.
A copy of the complaint was filed at the House’s Office of the Secretary General “in accordance with House rules,” petitioners said Thursday, though it was not marked as received as the top official was not present.
“The President institutionalized a mechanism to siphon over ?545.6 billion ($9.2 billion) in flood control funds, directing them into the hands of favored cronies and contractors and converting public coffers into a private war chest for the 2025 (mid-term) elections,” a summary of the filing seen by AFP says.
It also accuses the president of directly soliciting kickbacks, a charge that relies heavily on unproven allegations made by a former congressman who fled the country while under investigation.
Presidential spokeswoman Claire Castro, who told reporters on Thursday that Marcos was recovering after spending the night under medical observation for an undisclosed illness, declined to discuss the filing.
“Let’s wait (to see) its contents, we cannot address that as of now if we don’t have the details of their complaints,” she said.
Marcos has consistently noted that he was the one who put the issue of ghost projects center stage and taken credit for pushing investigations that have seen scores of construction firm owners, government officials and lawmakers implicated.
But complainant Liza Maza told reporters on Thursday she believed the moves were only intended to deflect blame.
“We think the investigation he initiated is just a cover-up,” she said. “Because the truth is, he is the head of this corruption.”
Hours later, a group with ties to former president Rodrigo Duterte showed up at the House of Representatives with their own corruption-based impeachment complaint against the president, only to depart without leaving a copy.
‘Slim chance’
Thursday’s complaint was not the first filed against Marcos this week.
Under the constitution, any citizen can file an impeachment complaint provided it is endorsed by one of the more than 300 members of Congress.
On Monday, a local lawyer brought a case citing Rodrigo Duterte’s arrest and transfer to the International Criminal Court, as well as unproven allegations of drug abuse.
Dennis Coronacion, chair of the political science department at Manila’s University of Santo Tomas, said at the time that the document relied largely on “rehashed or recycled allegations” and lacked “sufficient evidence.”
On Thursday, Coronacion said the new complaint was also unlikely to go far in a Congress packed with Marcos allies.
“(It) has a very slim chance of getting the approval of the House Committee on Justice and (even less) so, in the plenary, because the president still enjoys the support of the members of the House of Representatives,” Coronacion said.
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