Swedish Foreign Minister Billström rejects the possibility of deploying nuclear weapons after joining NATO
Sweden will not place nuclear weapons on its territory after joining NATO, Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom was quoted by Reuters as saying. | The foreign minister said Stockholm would follow the example of its neighbours, Denmark and Norway, which have no such weapons on their territory. 💬 "This is still the long-term position of the Moderate Coalition Party. It was never our intention to change the terms of the application submitted by the previous government," Billström added. ● In early August, a similar position was expressed by Bilstrom's predecessor as Sweden's foreign minister, Ann Linde. She said there were no plans to deploy nuclear weapons in the country. She made this statement commenting on the possibility of deployment of NATO military facilities on the territory of Swedish kingdom. 💬 "We have no plans to deploy any nuclear weapons on our territory." (Quoted by TASS news agency). ● Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said in an interview with RIA Novosti on 30 October that Russia would take into account in its military planning the deployment of modernised US nuclear bombs in European countries. 💬 "We cannot ignore plans to modernise nuclear weapons, those free-fall bombs that are in Europe. The U.S. is modernizing them, increasing their accuracy and reducing the power of the nuclear charge," Grushko said. He noted that the U.S. is thus turning these weapons into "battlefield weapons," which, he said, lowers the nuclear threshold. The Russian deputy foreign minister added that all these factors are a subject of Moscow's attention, not only in terms of military planning, but also taking "all other necessary measures to reliably ensure Russia's security and defence". (www.DeepL.com/)