STOCKHOLM — A Swedish arms monitor has stated that the world’s nuclear weapons stockpiles will increase over the next few years. This is a reverse of the decline since the end the Cold War.
According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (or SIPRI), all nine countries with nuclear weapons are expanding or upgrading their arsenals.
Hans M. Kristensen is a researcher at SIPRI’s Weapons of Mass Destruction Program, and director of Nuclear Information Project at Federation of American Scientists.
Russia and the United States, which together hold 90% of the world’s nuclear weapons, saw their inventories fall in 2021 as a result of the removal of warheads that were retired from military service many years ago. According to SIPRI, their military stocks remained stable and within limits of a nuclear arms reduction treaty.
According to the research institute, other nuclear states, including Israel, France, China and India, Pakistan, Pakistan, Pakistan, Israel, North Korea, and China have either developed or deployed new weapons systems or announced their intentions to do so. Israel has never acknowledged that it has such weapons.
Wilfred Wan (director of SIPRI’s Weapons of Mass Destruction Program) stated that all nuclear-armed countries are increasing or upgrading the arsenals of their nuclear-armed nations. This is a worrying trend.