Moscow, Feb 24 (.) Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has warned that Moscow would deliver a nuclear response, should NATO countries try to supply Ukraine with atomic weapons.
Currently serving as deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, Medvedev’s warning came following the latest report by Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), which claimed that London and Paris were jointly attempting to covertly provide Kyiv with European made components, technology, and equipment related to nuclear weapons, along with an appropriate method of delivery, under the guise of it all being domestically developed by Kyiv.
“I will be blunt and state the obvious,” Medvedev said while speaking to RT, adding that the alleged intentions of London and Paris to hand over nuclear capabilities to what he described as the “Nazi regime in Kyiv” was an extremely dangerous move, and one that could change the situation entirely.
Noting it to be a “direct transfer of nuclear weapons to a country at war,” Medvedev stated “There should be no doubt whatsoever that in such a scenario Russia would be forced to use any means at its disposal, including non-strategic nuclear weapons, against targets in Ukraine that threaten our country.”
“And if necessary, against the supplier nations now implicated in a nuclear conflict with Russia. This is the kind of symmetrical response that the Russian Federation would be entitled to,” he added.
The SVR also alleged that another option under consideration by London and Paris was the provision of a complete French TN 75 nuclear warhead used on submarine launched ballistic missiles, or assistance in building a radioactive “dirty bomb” using conventional explosives and nuclear materials.
The SVR statement further noted that Kyiv could seek to negotiate from “more advantageous terms” should it possess such weapons, adding that Germany had “prudently refused” to participate.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov described the reported plans as “potentially very dangerous,” saying they would threaten the global non-proliferation regime.
Ukraine, for its part has argued that it gave up its Soviet-era nuclear arsenal in exchange for security guarantees that later proved worthless.
While a significant portion of Soviet nuclear forces were stationed in Ukraine, Kyiv never controlled the missiles, with the 1994 Budapest Memorandums to the former Soviet republics of Ukraine, Belarus, and Kazakhstan gave assurances – but not legally binding guarantees – that their territorial integrity would be respected after transferring Soviet nuclear weapons to Russia.
At the 2022 Munich Security Conference, shortly before the Ukraine conflict escalated, Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky suggested Kyiv should reconsider its non-nuclear status, leading to much anger from Russia.
Moscow maintains that after the 2014 regime change in Kyiv, Ukraine’s new authorities breached the neutrality pledge underpinning its post-Soviet independence commitments, by making its desire to join NATO, the pillar of its foreign security policy.
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