Russia on Thursday warned any European country that accepts the deployment of French nuclear-capable strategic bombers would make itself a target for attack by Moscow's forces in the event of a conflict.
President Emmanuel Macron in March announced plans to expand France's nuclear arsenal, saying they might allow European partners to host its nuclear-capable aircraft for temporary deployment.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said in an interview published on Thursday, this is part of the "uncontrolled increase" of NATO's nuclear potential (the Atlantic Treaty U, which poses a strategic threat to Russia.
He stressed Moscow's concerns about the potential deployment of French nuclear weapons to other European countries.
"Obviously, our military will be forced to pay close attention to this issue in the context of updating the list of priority targets in the event of a major conflict," Grushko told the Russian Today government media, quoted by Reuters (23/4).
"As a result, instead of strengthening the defense of allies that France declared - which, incidentally, they did not give them definite guarantees - the security of these countries is actually weakened," he said.
President Macron said Paris was discussing the arrangement with Britain, Germany, Poland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Greece, Sweden and Denmark.
President Macron's initiative is part of an effort by European NATO members to take more responsibility for their own defense, after frequent criticism of the alliance from US President Donald Trump, and given his threat to take control of Greenland from NATO member Denmark.
The end of the last treaty limiting the size of Russian and US strategic nuclear weapons in February has created a vacuum in global arms control, at a time when international tensions are at their highest point in decades due to the Ukraine and Iran wars.
Grushko said future dialogue on nuclear weapons needs to take into account NATO's combined capabilities, including French and British weaponry as well as US weaponry.
NATO this week criticized Russia and China over their nuclear weapons policies and urged the two countries to work with the US to build greater stability and transparency at a conference that will open at the UN in New York next week to review the implementation of nuclear non-proliferation treaties.
The English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French versions are automatically generated by the AI. So there may still be inaccuracies in translating, please always see Indonesian as our main language. (system supported by DigitalSiber.id)
