Global nuclear arsenal expected to grow for first time since Cold War

“All of the world’s nuclear-armed states are “increasing or upgrading their arsenals and most are sharpening nuclear rhetoric and the role nuclear weapons play in their military strategies…This is a very worrying trend.” – Wilfred Wan, director of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute’s weapons of mass destruction program.

By Brittany Shammas and Sammy Westfall, The Washington Post June 13, 2022 | washingtonpost.com

A vehicle transports a nuclear missile during a Victory Day rehearsal in Moscow on June 17, 2020. (Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg News)

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute released on Monday its annual overview of international security and global arms production, warning that the post-Cold War decline in nuclear arsenals appeared to be ending.

“The risk of nuclear weapons being used seems higher now than at any time since the height of the Cold War,” director Dan Smith said in a statement, despite what he described as “significant gains” in nuclear arms control and disarmament over the past year.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE – WASHINGTON POST