MOSCOW, March 4. /TASS/. NATO is attempting to expand the European component of the nuclear arsenal in addition to the US stock and not as an alternative to the American nuclear umbrella, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday.
According to the diplomat, "in addition to strengthening national capabilities in the military and nuclear fields, Britain and France are working with their allies to form their own or, as they also put it, independent potential for European nuclear deterrence."
"Initial attempts to present this as an alternative to the US nuclear umbrella quickly gave way to recognition of the obvious fact that we are talking here about the expansion of the European nuclear component within NATO in addition to the existing practice within the alliance of these joint nuclear missions that rest on American nuclear weapons reserves," Zakharova noted.
She pointed out that such efforts "are consistent with the agreements concluded by France with an expanding circle of European NATO allies on the involvement of these non-nuclear countries in some advanced or, as they say, enhanced algorithms implemented by France for nuclear deterrence, which imply a progressive deepening of such interaction and, in fact, largely mirror the US schemes of expanded nuclear deterrence."
