NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg's words regarding negotiations on the deployment of more nuclear weapons are an escalation, said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, quoted by "Reuters".
NATO is conducting negotiations on deploying more nuclear weapons, removing them from storage and putting them on alert in view of the growing threat from Russia and China, Stoltenberg stated earlier today to the "Telegraph".
However, his comment contradicts the communique from the Swiss peace conference, which states that any threat or use of nuclear weapons in the context of Ukraine is unacceptable.
"This is nothing but another escalation of tension", Peskov noted regarding Stoltenberg's words.
Russia claims the United States and its European allies are pushing the world toward nuclear confrontation by giving Ukraine billions of dollars worth of weapons, some of which are being used against Russian territory.
According to the Federation of American Scientists, Russia and the United States are the largest nuclear powers in the world, possessing about 88% of all nuclear weapons.
The United States has about 100 non-strategic B61 nuclear weapons located in five European countries - Italy, Germany, Turkey, Belgium and the Netherlands - and another 100 such weapons on its soil.
Russia, on the other hand, has about 1,558 non-strategic nuclear warheads, although arms control experts specify that it is very difficult to specify the exact number due to secrecy.