Finnish President Alexander Stubb declared on Monday that a “new era of nuclear weapons” had begun. He did so in response to the United States’ announcement last week that it was planning nuclear weapons tests. TASR informs about it according to the report of the AFP agency.
Stubb said the “logic of deterrence” and “strategic stability among the superpowers” was undergoing a transformation.
The importance of nuclear weapons is growing
“We have entered a new era of nuclear weapons in which, unfortunately, the importance of nuclear weapons is increasing,” Stubb said in a speech in Helsinki.
US President Donald Trump announced last week that the US will begin testing nuclear weapons. The announcement came after Russia said it had successfully test-fired a new intercontinental ballistic missile, the Burevestnik, and the Poseidon super-torpedo. Both are nuclear powered and capable of carrying nuclear warheads.
Underground tests
On Sunday, Trump claimed that countries including Russia and China had conducted underground nuclear tests that the public did not know about. He said the United States would emulate them in this.
The United States last tested a nuclear weapon in 1992, Moscow two years before that, during the Soviet Union’s existence. Apart from North Korea, no country is known to have carried out a nuclear explosion in recent decades.
Prospects of Finland
“How can we build deterrence together? How can we control escalation?” Stubb asked. In the end, he added that Finland, which borders Russia, must now consider the answers to these questions together with its allies.
After decades of military neutrality, Finland joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 2023 in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
