US Transfers Nukes From Turkey to Romania Amid Rising Tensions

The United States has started to move nuclear arms deployed in Turkey to Romania amid rising tensions in relations between Washington and Ankara, media reported on Thursday, citing sources.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The base was impacted significantly by the events of July 15 and their aftermath. Former base commander Gen. Bekir Ercan Van was arrested on suspicion of involvement in the plot, while the Turkish authorities cut the base's electricity supply off and prohibited US planes from taking off.

“It’s not easy to move 20+ nukes,” a source told the EurActive news website.

Another source confirmed to the media outlet that arms are being transferred from Turkey’s Incirlik air base to the Deveselu air base in Romania due to Washington's lack of trust in the Turkish authorities in the wake of the thwarted coup attempt in the country.

The Romanian foreign ministry denied the reports in a written answer to the media outlet.

On Monday, the Stimson Center think tank warned that the United States was running the risk of losing control over some 50 US tactical nuclear weapons deployed at Turkey's Incirlik Air Base, just 70 miles from the Syrian border, to terrorists. In a statement to accompany the report's publication, the think tank stressed that a protracted civil conflict in Turkey would make the fate of the weapons uncertain, referencing the attempted coup in Turkey on July 15.