McСain: US Nuclear Deterrent Must Be 'Increasingly Ready' to Counter Russia

US Senate Armed Services Chairman John McCain said on Tuesday that the United States must continue efforts to modernize its nuclear forces to deter Russia, including more exercises and improved readiness of those forces in Europe.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — In February, US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter announced that US military spending on Europe would be more than quadrupled from $689 million in fiscal year 2016 to $3.4 billion in fiscal year 2017.

"We must continue the ongoing modernization of US nuclear forces and make sure that NATO’s nuclear deterrence forces are survivable, well-exercised, and increasingly ready to counter Russian nuclear doctrine, which calls for the first use of nuclear weapons," McCain said in a hearing on the US European Command.

US officials continue to allege a major change in Russia’s nuclear doctrine, released in its most recent military doctrine. According to the doctrine, Moscow maintains the right to use nuclear weapons if the state is threatened existentially from a nuclear or conventional source.

Since the Cold War, the United States has kept a nuclear arsenal in Europe, including a stockpile of approximately 200 B61 bombs.

Russia has repeatedly warned NATO against increased activity near its borders, arguing it upsets regional and global stability.