France and the UK are trying to get Berlin involved in the plan, according to Russian intel
German lawmakers should question the leadership in Berlin regarding an alleged plot to provide Ukraine with nuclear materials or a warhead from the UK and France, a senior Russian senator has said.
Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) earlier reported that London and Paris attempted to get Berlin’s backing, but it “has prudently refused to take part in this dangerous venture.”
According to Konstantin Kosachev, vice speaker of the upper chamber of the Russian parliament, it is reasonable to assume from the intel that London and Paris had reached out to Berlin to play the role of a “sponsor, organizer, transmission link [or] some sort of a cover” in the alleged plan.
“This, in turn, means that Germany possesses its share of information about what is going on, and its share of responsibility,” Kosachev concluded.
He said that Berlin’s alleged involvement in this “adventurous enterprise, albeit not carried through to its final stage” should become the subject of an investigation in the German parliament. The senator added that Russian MPs were directing a request for a probe to their British and French colleagues, as well as lawmakers in the Bundestag.
On Tuesday, the SVR reported that British and French government officials are considering the “covert transfer of relevant European-made [nuclear] components, equipment, and technologies to Ukraine” in order to build a ‘dirty bomb’ – a conventional explosive device laden with radioactive materials.
The SVR alleged that an alternative option under consideration is to secretly supply a French TN 75 nuclear warhead to Ukraine. The agency claimed that London and Paris are thus seeking to ensure “more advantageous terms of ceasing the hostilities” for Kiev.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova warned on Tuesday that this could potentially lead to a “direct military conflict between nuclear powers.”
Russia’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, stated that the plan would constitute a “direct violation” of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.
