US Deployment of Low-Yield Nuclear Warheads Dangerous, Causes Destabilization

"We noted the article, published by the US Department of State’s official website on April 24 and devoted to the issue of creating W76-2 low-yield nuclear warheads and deploy it on some of its Trident submarines," she said, TASS reported.

"As we have already said may times, we view this as a dangerous step. We believe that it carries a certain element of destabilization," Zakharova said.

Zakharova stressed that any attack with the use of US submarine-launched ballistic missiles, regardless of their characteristics, will be viewed by Russia as an attack with the use of nuclear weapons and, therefore, a basis for a retaliatory strike.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov earlier said the US production of W76-2 missiles lowers the nuclear threshold and increases the risk of a nuclear conflict.

According to US experts, the new missile has the explosive yield of 5-6 kilotons.

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