Europa braucht 1.000 weitere Atomsprengköpfe, um Putin abzuhalten

***The Telegraph exclusively reports:***

Europe needs to acquire nearly a thousand more nuclear warheads if it hopes to deter Vladimir Putin, a German political scientist has warned.

Maximilian Terhalle, a visiting fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, said [Putin had at least 1,550 long-range nuclear missiles,](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/12/17/nuclear-armageddon-getting-closer-russia-putin-trump/) while Europe had only several hundred.

Concerns that President Donald Trump could scale back security guarantees in Europe has led to discussions in EU capitals about a nuclear deterrent that is [independent of the United States](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/politics/2024/11/22/us-weapons-are-not-good-enough-to-take-on-russias-nuclear/).

“Trump has turned an enemy, Russia, into a friend, and that’s something of grievous concern. In the case that America draws away from Europe entirely – not yet – we have to ask how we will compensate for that because [Russia’s imperial ambition](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/11/19/vladimir-putin-donald-trump-russia-ukraine-joe-biden-nuclea/) has not diminished at all,” Dr Terhalle told The Telegraph.

“We need to be on par with [Russia’s 1,550 strategic warheads](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/02/29/vladimir-putin-is-preparing-for-nuclear-war/), otherwise we will not strategically influence what is going on in Putin’s mind, which is critical for deterrence. Add to that, Russia has an unhelpful 10:1 lead as far as [short-range tactical nuclear weapons](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/06/14/putin-nuclear-arsenal-is-crumbling-ukraine-can-attack/) are concerned,” he added.

Dr Terhalle said France and Britain’s nuclear arsenal combined consisted of around 450 long-range “strategic” nuclear warheads, meaning weapons that would determine the outcome of a war, and 200 smaller “tactical” warheads.

“I’m a staunch transatlanticist, as such I don’t want to see Nato breaking up by any means, but we also need to look out for ourselves,” he added.

**Read more:** [**https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/03/01/europe-needs-1000-more-nuclear-warheads-deter-putin-europe/**](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/03/01/europe-needs-1000-more-nuclear-warheads-deter-putin-europe/)

There is no winning in a nuclear war the Russians knew that in 61 and they know it now.