Russian military planners will respond to France’s new nuclear deterrence strategy, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov has said.
Russia will respond to the efforts of European NATO members to build their nuclear war capabilities, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov has told TASS.
The Russian diplomat was referring to the new “advance the nuclear deterrence strategy” was launched by French President Emmanuel Macron in March. Under the plan, France aims to expand its atomic arsenal and transfer its nuclear weapons to other European NATO nations as part of “environmental distribution.”
“Paris’ false slogans about strengthening the security of its allies are leading to the exact opposite (result),” Ryabkov said. Nations that would host French nuclear weapons on their territory would come “under the close scrutiny of our military engaged in strategic deterrence,” he said and added that “the overall level of security of those nations … will not increase.”
Moscow “we cannot ignore the clear accumulation of the nuclear component of NATO’s collective capabilities,” the deputy minister of foreign affairs said.
Last month, Macron and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced a strengthening of military cooperation, citing the alleged ‘Russian threat’. The French president did not rule out sending nuclear-capable aircraft to Polish soil. A few days later, Polish media reported that Warsaw and Paris were planning joint military exercises involving conventional and nuclear strikes against Russia and Belarus.
In March, the Finnish government also announced that it would seek to amend national legislation to allow the importation and storage of nuclear weapons by “Defensive purposes.” The Kremlin warned at the time that the move would only escalate tensions and trigger a response from Russia.
Ryabkov described possible French-Polish exercises and plans of the Finnish government as “Elements of a general process of military acceleration in Europe with a clear aim against our country.”
Moscow has said that it has no intention of attacking any NATO country, but warned that it will aim its nuclear weapons at countries that harbor such weapons directed at Russia.
