U.S. Nuclear Weapons May Soon Return to British Air Base

New U.S. hydrogen bombs may soon return to England, according to classified Pentagon documents obtained by London’s Daily Telegraph. The documents report a “nuclear mission” to get underway “immediately” at Lakenheath air force base. On February 5, Russia’s permanent representative to the United Nations Gennady Gatilov vowed, on state television, to respond if the U.S. enacts the transfer. Moscow has warned it would see the move as provocative, with Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova saying last fall, “If this happens, it will be treated by us as an escalation, which will lead to the exact opposite of achieving the pressing task of removing all U.S. nuclear weapons from Europe,” the Tass news agency reported. During the Cold War, U.S. nuclear bombs and missiles were stationed in England. The last was removed in 2008. The 1970 Nonproliferation Treaty forbids such transfer of nuclear weapons to other countries.

— Newsweek, Feb. 5, https://www.newsweek.com/russia-gennady-gatilov-us-nuclear-weapons-britain-1866874; Defense Pose, Jan. 30 (https://www.thedefensepost.com/2024/01/30/us-nuclear-weapons-uk/); The Guardian (https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/jan/26/us-planning-to-station-nuclear-weapons-in-uk-amid-threat-from-russia-report), the Independent (https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/us-nuclear-weapons-stationed-uk-b2485844.html), The Standard (https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/united-states-uk-nuclear-weapons-ukraine-war-raf-base-b1135208.html), and Stars and Stripes ( https://www.stripes.com/theaters/europe/2024-01-29/nuclear-weapons-lakenheath-12831280.html), Jan. 27, 2024