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U.S. deploys B-52 bombers to Spain amid nuclear test tensions
Nuclear-capable B-52 bombers arrived at Morón Air Base in Spain on Friday as escalating tensions between Washington and Moscow revive concerns over potential nuclear weapons testing for the first time in more than three decades.
The deployment, part of the Bomber Task Force Europe 26-1, comes just hours after Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov confirmed that Moscow is actively drafting proposals for possible nuclear tests. This followed former U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent directive to resume American nuclear tests. The B-52s, deployed from Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana, will conduct joint training exercises with Finland, Lithuania, and Sweden to “reinforce deterrence along Europe’s eastern flank,” according to U.S. Air Forces in Europe.
Escalating nuclear rhetoric
The deployment is the latest development in a week marked by nuclear brinkmanship. On October 30, Trump announced on Truth Social that he had instructed the "Department of War" to begin testing U.S. nuclear weapons on an equal footing with other nations. He claimed, without evidence, that Russia and China had conducted clandestine underground nuclear tests.
Russian President Vladimir Putin responded on November 5 during a televised Security Council meeting, directing officials to prepare plans for nuclear testing if the U.S. or other signatories of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) proceed with tests. “Russia must implement appropriate and proportional countermeasures,” Putin said.
On Saturday, Lavrov told state media that Putin's directive was “actively being pursued” and that the results would be shared with the public. Russia’s last nuclear test occurred in 1990, while the U.S. conducted its last explosive test in 1992.
NATO’s response
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte issued a stern warning, stating, “Putin must understand that a nuclear war can never be won and must never be fought.” In an interview with German publication Welt am Sonntag, Rutte emphasized that NATO’s recent annual nuclear exercise reaffirmed his “absolute confidence in the alliance’s nuclear deterrence.”
Rutte reassured the public, saying, “When Russia engages in dangerous and irresponsible nuclear rhetoric, our populations must know there is no need to panic. NATO has strong nuclear deterrence in place.”
Meanwhile, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright sought to clarify Trump’s remarks, explaining that the proposed tests would involve “subcritical explosions” rather than full-scale nuclear detonations. However, Trump told CBS’s 60 Minutes that the U.S. “would test nuclear weapons just as other countries do.”