(ANSA) - ROME, FEBRUARY 14 - Russia has begun deploying nuclear-armed tactical ships in the Baltic Sea for the first time in 30 years, the Norwegian intelligence service said in its annual report cited by Politico.
"The fundamental part of the nuclear potential is on the submarines and surface ships of the Northern Fleet", observed 007 in Oslo, adding that tactical nuclear weapons are "a particularly serious threat in various operational scenarios in which NATO countries could be involved ".
Warships of the Northern Fleet regularly went to sea with nuclear weapons during the Cold War era, but this is the first time the Russian Federation has done the same, the report notes.
Norwegian intelligence also stressed that an escalation of a localized war into a larger conflict involving the United States, NATO and Norway cannot be ruled out.
The agency assessed that while Russia will maintain, modernize and develop its nuclear arsenal, no significant changes in Russia's nuclear doctrine are expected in the coming years.
(HANDLE).