New push to remove tactical nuclear weapons from Europe

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At present, Russia is thought to have well over 1,000 tactical weapons over various sorts along its western border, including the enclave of Kaliningrad according to some reports. The US has about 180 B61 nuclear gravity bombs stored at bases in Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, Italy and Turkey. These Cold War relics are generally agreed to serve no military purpose, and there were hopes that the Obama administration would remove them as a unilateral gesture, with the aim of inviting reciprocal action from Russia. So far this has not happened, and the dangerous Cold War nuclear stand off has been allowed to continue.

In an attempt to restore some momentum to arms control, an international pro-disarmament movement called Global Zero is launching a new proposal today at the Munich Security Conference, for both the US and Russia to remove their tactical nuclear weapons from combat bases in Europe and put them in storage. In the case of the American B61's this would mean shipping them back to the US. Russia would withdraw its tactical weapons to its own storage facilities, known as 'S' sites.
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(Bron: Guardian, 3 februari 2012)