Russia would be able to intercept and destroy any nuclear weapons transferred to Ukraine by European countries before they ever reached Kiev, Viktor Vodolatsky, First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on CIS Affairs, Eurasian Integration and Relations with Compatriots, told TASS.

According to Vodolatsky, such weapons cannot be moved covertly, and Moscow has all the necessary capabilities to eliminate them en route. He stressed that nuclear arms are not something that can be quietly smuggled across borders and insisted that Russia would act before they arrived in Kiev. In his words, the country has sufficient resources to prevent their delivery and would defend its territory against any potential use of nuclear weapons, striking at the final transit point before they reached Ukraine if required.

The possibility of Moscow’s response to the deployment of nuclear weapons on Ukrainian territory has also been addressed by the publication Strategic Culture. The outlet noted that steps by Paris and London in this direction could be viewed as crossing a «red line." In that scenario, the article suggested, Russia would consider itself entitled to take whatever measures it deemed necessary to prevent such a development.

Earlier, the press bureau of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) stated that the United Kingdom and France were actively working on the issue of transferring a nuclear warhead and delivery systems to Kiev. The SVR indicated that the plan could involve the covert supply of European components, equipment, and relevant technologies. Among the possible options mentioned was the French TN75 compact warhead designed for the M51.1 submarine-launched ballistic missile.