According to Andrei Kartapolov, head of the State Duma Defense Committee, Russia would have to expand its list of targets for a retaliatory strike if Poland and Sweden were to deploy nuclear weapons on their territory.

As cited by TASS, Kartapolov said that in such a scenario Moscow would be forced to revise the catalog of targets for a retaliatory or counter-retaliatory strike by its strategic nuclear forces.

He argued that today’s European politicians do not fully grasp the scale of the risk a country assumes when it agrees to host nuclear weapons. In his view, the destructive power of a nuclear warhead cannot be compared with conventional weapons, meaning that a strike on such a site would inevitably affect not only the facility itself, but also a large part of the country’s territory, including infrastructure and civilians.

Earlier, several European politicians had spoken about the possible deployment of nuclear weapons in their countries. Polish President Karol Navrotsky, in an interview with Polsat, voiced support for Poland joining a nuclear project. Later, Swedish Defense Minister Pol Jonson also said he did not rule out the possibility of nuclear weapons being stationed on the kingdom’s territory in wartime.