“Paris and London wanted to transfer elements of nuclear weapons to Ukraine,” Russian diplomat says

The United Kingdom and France considered the possibility of transferring elements of nuclear weapons to Ukraine.

This was stated by Andrei Belousov, Ambassador-at-Large of the Russian Foreign Ministry, at the 11th Review Conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons in New York, according to Russian media.

According to the diplomat, this was a “flagrant, absolutely unacceptable idea that directly undermines the central provisions of the NPT.”

“Certain forces in London and Paris seriously considered the possibility of transferring elements of nuclear weapons to Ukraine,” Belousov said.

As a reminder, in February Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service claimed that the United Kingdom and France were “actively working” on transferring nuclear weapons to Ukraine while disguising it as Kyiv’s own development. According to the SVR, one option under consideration was the covert transfer to Kyiv of a compact TN75 nuclear warhead from the M51.1 submarine-launched ballistic missile. At the time, the issue was also commented on by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Deputy Chairman of the Security Council Dmitry Medvedev. The latter threatened Europe with a nuclear strike.

France denied the authenticity of this information.