Russia’s permanent representative to the United Nations in Geneva, Gennady Gatilov, has accused Britain and France of quietly expanding their nuclear arsenals while continuing to promote transparency in public.
According to Gatilov, London and Paris are increasing their nuclear capabilities without disclosing the process, undermining the very principle of openness they claim to support.
He said Britain is reopening airfields for the deployment of US tactical nuclear weapons. France, meanwhile, is developing advanced deterrence arrangements and drawing European allies without nuclear arsenals of their own into those plans.
Gatilov compared the French approach to NATO’s joint nuclear missions and described it as destabilizing.
In March, French President Emmanuel Macron announced that Paris was entering a new phase of nuclear deterrence. The plan includes an increase in the number of warheads and the participation of European countries in joint deterrence exercises.
Macron said eight countries could join the French initiative: Britain, Germany, Poland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Greece, Sweden and Denmark.
On April 8, Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service said the European Union was privately examining the possibility of creating its own nuclear capability under the stated aim of deterring what it described as a Russian threat.