NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said the success of the Alliance's annual nuclear exercises earlier this month gave him absolute confidence in the reliability of NATO's nuclear deterrent, despite Russian threats, Tanjug reported.
"When Russia uses dangerous and reckless nuclear rhetoric, our population must know that there is no need to panic, because NATO has a strong nuclear deterrent," Rutte said, according to the German weekly Welt am Sonntag.
Rutte stressed that Russian President Vladimir Putin should also know that a nuclear war can never be won and should never be fought.