France has floated the idea of sharing its nuclear arms with EU member states
The UK opposes the spread of nuclear weapons, Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said amid to repeated calls for such weapons to be distributed to other countries in Europe.
French President Emmanuel Macron recently floated the idea of extending France’s nuclear umbrella to other EU member states in light of fears of a US withdrawal from the continent. In a televised national address, the French leader called Russia a “threat to France and Europe.” In response, Moscow accused him of having aggressive intentions against Russia.
The UK, which is the only other Western European nation besides France that possesses nuclear weapons, will oppose such weapons being distributed to other countries, Starmer said during a press conference on Saturday.
“On the question of nuclear weapons, obviously our position is that we will do everything we can to prevent any increase in the availability of nuclear weapons,” he said when asked about concerns about other countries seeking to obtain nuclear arms.
Polish President Andrzej Duda has urged the US to move some of its nuclear weapons to Poland as part of NATO’s nuclear-sharing scheme, he told the Financial Times in an interview published on Thursday. Five states of the US-led military bloc reportedly host American nuclear weapons on their territory: Germany, Italy, Belgium, Türkiye, and the Netherlands.
US Vice President J.D. Vance has said he would be “shocked” if President Donald Trump were amenable to deploying nuclear weapons any further east in Europe. “People like” former US President Joe Biden are “sleepily walking us into a nuclear conflict,” he told Fox News on Thursday, when asked about Duda’s appeal.
Commenting on Macron’s idea of a French nuclear-sharing scheme, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called the president’s words a “threat” against Russia.
If European officials see Moscow as a threat and openly discuss their readiness to use nuclear weapons against Russia, “we regard this as a threat,” the top diplomat stressed.
