NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte is urging Western societies to confront the reality of nuclear deterrence openly, calmly, and with confidence. “It’s essential that our people understand how nuclear deterrence underpins our collective security,” Rutte told Welt am Sonntag, warning that Moscow’s “dangerous and reckless nuclear rhetoric” must not breed fear, according to OE24.
More than three and a half years after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, nuclear tension again shadows Europe. President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly flaunted Russia’s atomic might to dissuade deeper Western backing for Kyiv. Just weeks ago, as NATO staged a long-planned nuclear exercise, Moscow answered with its own sweeping drills of strategic forces, a grim call and response between two nuclear powers.
Rutte described NATO’s nuclear deterrence as “the ultimate guarantee of our security.” Its credibility, he said, must remain intact: safe, effective, and beyond doubt. “Putin must understand,” he added, “that a nuclear war can never be won and must never be fought.”
The NATO chief praised the alliance’s recent exercise as a success that “sent a clear signal” to any adversary: every member will be defended, without hesitation.
Among NATO’s 32 members, only the United States, France, and the United Kingdom maintain nuclear arsenals. Yet Russia remains the world’s largest nuclear power, holding more than 5,500 confirmed warheads, compared with 5,044 in the U.S., according to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons.
In an age when words can echo like weapons, Rutte’s message was plain: deterrence, not panic, is what keeps the peace.
