Are Lavrov’s Concerns About Nuclear-Capable F-16s for Kiev Really ‘Baseless Fearmongering’?

Tuesday, June 13, 2023

Drago Bosnic, independent geopolitical and military analyst

Back in late May, the United States government “finally gave in to pressure” and decided to greenlight the delivery of F-16s to the Kiev regime. As a result, NATO’s European members were given the legal basis to deliver these old fighter jets to the Neo-Nazi junta. The troubled Biden administration has been mulling the move for months, while Ukrainian pilots have been conducting training in several NATO countries, including the US itself. Last week, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov issued a stark warning to the political West regarding the delivery of nuclear-capable US-made F-16 fighter jets to the Kiev regime.

“We can expect anything from the leaders of the United States and other Western countries whom Washington has brought to its heel. They are proving the truth of this statement now that following the supplies of modern long-range artillery and tanks, they are getting ready, in earnest, to supply the F-16 jets. Some say they will make two squadrons available, others say eight. They are gearing up to continue the escalation of the war against us,” Lavrov stated and then added a stark warning: “We must keep in mind that one version of the F-16 can carry nuclear weapons.”

The Russian Foreign Minister made these comments mere days after troops from NATO took part in incursions into Russia proper, accompanied by escalating drone strikes against targets as far as Moscow itself. However, the mainstream propaganda machine was quick to decry Lavrov’s warnings as supposed “disinformation” and “baseless fearmongering”. The Business Insider claims, citing Hans Kristensen, the director of the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists, that “Lavrov’s comments were misinformation, perhaps even disinformation”.

“It’s misinformation because he’s saying things that are not real and using it in a way to, I assume, create public concern or fearmongering about Western intentions,” Kristensen told the Business Insider, adding that ”Lavrov is using the nominal capability of the F-16 aircraft to say that the ones that might be sent to Ukraine could also be converted to nuclear, but that’s not the case. The F-16s that Ukraine is going to get — if and when it gets them — they’re not from the units that have the nuclear mission. There’s no way at all that any nuclear state in the West would give nuclear weapons, or nuclear weapons capability, to Ukraine. It’s completely out of the question.”

The F-16 is designed to be capable of launching nuclear strikes, usually with B61 thermonuclear bombs. The units deployed by NATO members such as Belgium and the Netherlands operate F-16 fighter jets capable of delivering nuclear weapons, specifically as part of their nuclear sharing agreements with the US. And it’s precisely these countries (in addition to Denmark and others) that still operate F-16s and could very well be the first to send them to the Kiev regime. On the other hand, members such as Poland and Romania are extremely unlikely to do so, as the move would undermine their own security. This further reinforces the idea that the jets destined for the Neo-Nazi junta will be capable of delivering nuclear weapons.

This alone makes Lavrov’s concerns all the more factual, rather than “disinformation” and “baseless fearmongering”. Russia has repeatedly warned that the Kiev regime could attempt to acquire nuclear weapons, or at the very least a so-called “dirty bomb”. Such plans were publicly announced by the Neo-Nazi junta’s top officials themselves, including its frontman Volodymyr Zelensky, which is another proof that Moscow’s warnings are not to be dismissed. In addition, Russian intelligence services have found crucial evidence pointing out that the US has been conducting experiments and deploying “sensitive nuclear technologies” in former Ukrainian nuclear power plants (NPPs), such as the Zaporozhye NPP, possibly to even attempt a nuclear false flag operation.

Although the US is by far the largest operator of F-16 fighter jets, it still hasn’t announced plans to deliver them to the Neo-Nazi junta forces. Washington DC’s propaganda machine insists that this is supposedly because “the US is reluctant to do so to avoid escalation with Moscow”. However, this is a moot point, as the belligerent thalassocracy has so far done everything in its power to antagonize Russia through a series of moves that have pushed the world dangerously close to a world-ending thermonuclear conflict. Still, this doesn’t seem to stop the US from going ahead with such plans, at the very least covertly. National Security Council coordinator John Kirby recently admitted this, stating that “the US has been forward-looking about future capabilities and needs”.

According to CNN, back in March, the US hosted two Ukrainian pilots at a military base in Tucson, Arizona, where USAF has been evaluating their skills to assess how much time they would need to learn to fly various American military aircraft, including the F-16. Still, while Washington DC is directly taking part in these efforts, it’s obvious they want to make it look like they’re not, which would explain why the US doesn’t want to send its own jets, but expects its overseas vassals and satellite states to do so.

And while the F-16′s capabilities against Russian jets such as the Su-35S or MiG-31BM are questionable at best (to say nothing of the Su-57), it’s not impossible that Washington DC is trying to give the Kiev regime a nuclear capability to deter a potential Russian counteroffensive that might ensue as the Neo-Nazi junta’s own offensive is failing miserably.

Source: InfoBrics