The world’s nuclear arsenals will rise again for the first time since the end of the Cold War.

After 35 years of decline, the number of nuclear weapons in the world will increase again in the next decade, according to a report published on Monday, in a context of russian atomic threat and tensions between the great powers

At the beginning of 2022, the nine nations endowed with “the bomb” (Russia, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, China, India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea) possessed 12,705 nuclear warheads, some 375 less than at the beginning of 2021 , according to estimates of the international peace research institute Stockholm (Sipri).

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Since its all-time high in 1986 (over 70,000 head), this total has more than five-folded with the regular decline of the huge US and Russian arsenals built up during the Cold War.

But this era of disarmament is surely coming to an end and the risk of a nuclear escalation is now the highest in the post-Cold War period, according to the Swedish center report.

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“We will soon reach a point where, for the first time since the end of the Cold War, the number of nuclear weapons in the world could start to increase, which is a really dangerous phenomenon”Matt Korda, one of the co-authors of the report, told AFP.

Thus, the world arsenal should progress again “in the course of the next decade.”

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The war in ukraine has provoked several explicit references from the Russian president Vladimir Putin on the use of the atomic weapon, and the countries that possess it, for example China and the United Kingdom, carry out plans to modernize or develop their arsenals, according to the institute.

“It is going to be very difficult to make progress on disarmament in the next few years because of this war and the way Putin talks about his nuclear weapons,” according to Corda.

For him, these disturbing statements “promote many other powers that have nuclear weapons to reexamine their atomic strategies.”

Chinese arsenal duplicated?

Despite the entry into force of the treaty on the prohibition of nuclear weapons in early 2021, after its ratification by 50 countries, and the five-year extension of the US-Russian treaty Startthe context had already deteriorated in recent years, according to the Sipri.

All this due to concern about the Iranian nuclear program or the development by Russia of hypersonic missiles, difficult to intercept, among many other factors.

Moscow and Washington currently control 90% of the world’s nuclear arsenal.

According to the latest Sipri estimates, Russia remains at the beginning of 2022 the first world atomic power with 5,977 warheads (280 fewer in a year) deployed, in storage or awaiting decommissioning

The United States has 5,428 heads (-120) but with more weapons deployed (1,750). They are followed by China (350), France (290), the United Kingdom (225), Pakistan (165), India (160) and Israel (90), the only power of the nine that does not officially acknowledge having a nuclear weapon.

Despite diplomatic declarations, “all states endowed with nuclear weapons increase or modernize their arsenals and most of them harden their nuclear rhetoric and the role of atomic weapons in their military strategies” according to Sipri.

In China, a substantial build-up of the nuclear arsenal is underway, with satellite images showing the construction of more than 300 new missile silos.

According to the Pentagon, China could have 700 heads before 2027, that is, double the current ones.

Talking about North KoreaSipri estimates for the first time that Kim Jong-un’s regime has assembled some 20 nuclear warheads.

Source: Elcomercio

Ronald Payne

I, Ronald Payne, am a journalist and author who dedicated his life to telling the stories that need to be said. I have over 7 years of experience as a reporter and editor, covering everything from politics to business to crime.