MOSCOW, June 17. /TASS/. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg’s statements about the alliance possibly putting its nuclear weapons on standby are an intimidation tactic, and should be taken with a grain of salt, Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) Director Sergey Naryshkin said in an interview with TASS.
"I understand this is a desire to scare, but on the other hand the exercises are held regularly and should be held regularly. As far as I can tell, no special significance should be given to it. We should keep a cool head," he said.
Earlier, in an interview with the British newspaper The Daily Telegraph, Stoltenberg said that NATO member countries had started consultations on placing nuclear weapons on standby. He also said that the US and its European allies were modernizing their nuclear arsenals.