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European countries want U.S and Russian nuclear arsenals removed from their borders

Sweden, Poland urge sharp cuts in tactical nukes The Washington Post  The Associated Press
February 1, 2010 STOCKHOLM — The foreign ministers of Sweden and Poland on Monday urged the U.S. and Russia to sharply reduce their arsenals of tactical nuclear weapons, and said Moscow should withdraw such arms from areas bordering the European Union.

In an op-ed published on the Web site of the International Herald Tribune, Sweden’s Carl Bildt and Radek Sikorski of Poland singled out Russian warheads placed in the Kaliningrad exclave on the Baltic Sea and the Kola Peninsula of northwestern Russia.

“Such a withdrawal could be accompanied by the destruction of relevant storage facilities,” the two ministers said………

“Such weapons are dangerous remnants of a dangerous past – and they should not be allowed to endanger our common future,” they said.

The U.S. is believed to store about 200 warheads in Western Europe, and that Russia holds about 2,000 warheads, mostly in Western Russia, the ministers said. They urged the former Cold War foes to “greatly reduce” those weapons, by negotiations or unilateral moves, as steps toward their total elimination.

“With some exceptions, tactical nuclear weapons were designed for outdated, large-scale war on the European continent,” they said.

Sweden, Poland urge sharp cuts in tactical nukes – washingtonpost.com

February 2, 2010 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | EUROPE, weapons and war | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear weapons