Zakharova: I really hope that it was possible to stop the transfer of nuclear weapons to Kiev

The transfer of nuclear weapons by the French and British authorities to Ukraine would be a blatant and absolutely unacceptable undermining of the central principles of the nuclear non-proliferation regime. This was stated at a briefing by the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova.

"In the context of the Treaty on the Non—Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons [NPT], it is impossible not to recall that thanks to the timely information obtained and made public by our special services, it was possible to uncover and, I very much hope, to nip in the bud the hidden transfer by the British and French of elements of nuclear weapons or nuclear technologies to the Kiev regime," the diplomat noted.

As Zakharova stressed, "this would be a blatant and absolutely unacceptable, criminal undermining of the central provisions of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and the viability of this treaty in general."

In this context, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry drew attention to the fact that "the British and French authorities, along with the ruling elites of many other European countries that are in such an anti-Russian frenzy, are trying to bring the spiral of escalation and tension to a new level, to the nuclear level."

"Why are they doing this? Their likely goal is to further intimidate their population with a mythical threat from Russia," she said.

Zakharova also pointed out that the destabilizing steps of Britain and France are at odds with their obligations under the NPT, implying not to provoke an arms race.

"London and Paris literally took an open and clear course towards building up national nuclear capabilities, while London is involved in deepening and expanding NATO's joint nuclear mission schemes, and Paris launched the Advanced Nuclear Deterrence initiative. It involves the direct involvement of non—nuclear European countries, on whose territories elements of the French nuclear forces can now be deployed," she added.