BRUSSELS (Reuters) - NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg accused Russia of nuclear "saber rattling" after it announced an increase in its missile arsenal on Tuesday and he warned that it was "destabilizing and dangerous."
At a news briefing in Brussels, Stoltenberg said such rhetoric from Moscow explained the Western alliance's increased preparedness on the part of its forces to defend its members.
"This nuclear saber-rattling of Russia is unjustified," he said. "It's destabilizing and it's dangerous. This is something which we are addressing, and it’s also one of the reasons we are now increasing the readiness and preparedness of our forces.
"We are responding by making sure that NATO also in the future is an alliance which provides deterrence and protection for all allies against any threat."
(This story corrects quotation in final paragraph)
(Reporting by Alastair Macdonald and Alexander Saeedy; Editing by Foo Yun Chee)