Moscow (TDI): The possible deployment of French nuclear bombers across the European Union will not enhance security on the continent, Russia said Wednesday, after French President Emmanuel Macron stated he was ready to discuss the issue.
The proliferation of nuclear weapons in Europe is something that will not enhance security, improve predictability, or boost stability to the European continent,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists.
Macron floated the idea during a TV appearance on Tuesday, comparing it to the United States’s nuclear umbrella policy that guarantees US would reciprocate if its allies come under nuclear attack.
Macron told TF1 television, “The Americans have the bombs on planes in Belgium, Germany, Italy, Turkiye”.
“We are ready to start this discussion. I will define the framework in a very specific way in the upcoming weeks and months.”
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France is the EU’s only nuclear-armed country. Amid Russia-Ukraine war and US President Donald Trump’s calls on Europe to take more of the burden for its own defense, discussion is growing over extending France’s nuclear deterrent to the rest of the 27-member bloc.
Russia, the world’s biggest nuclear power, possesses nearly four thousand warheads and views Paris’s nuclear deterrence as a potential threat to its national security.
Read More: France condemns latest Russian airstrikes on Ukraine
Currently, the whole system of strategic stability and security is in a deplorable state for obvious reasons,” Peskov added.
During Ukraine war, Russian President Vladimir Putin has multiple times threatened nuclear escalation, drawing rebukes from the West over “reckless” rhetoric.
Farkhund Yousafzai is an Associate Editor at The Diplomatic Insight.
