STOCKHOLM, January 29. /TASS/. Swedish Defense Minister Pal Henning Jonson and his predecessor Peter Hultqvist voiced their opposition to a bill banning the deployment of nukes in the Nordic country, the current and former top military officials told SVT in a live broadcast.
The Swedish Green Party, which has always been against keeping nuclear weapons in the country, demanded that Helsinki adopt such a law before officially entering NATO. "We consider it important to protect Sweden’s national security and this is why we do not want nuclear weapons on Swedish soil," Emma Berginger, the party’s spokesperson for military-political issues, said, as she explained that otherwise Sweden may become a nuclear target. "Why can’t we clearly fix in the law that we do not want nukes on Swedish soil?" the politician asked rhetorically.
Meanwhile, none of Sweden’s allies has asked for the deployment of nuclear weapons in the kingdom, Jonson said. "Neither the United States, nor Great Britain or France have hinted at deploying nuclear weapons on the territories of new allies," he emphasized. "Because there is no need for that. We have a well-known hard line on the issue which is broadly supported, while Norway and Denmark don’t even have legislation in this sphere," Sweden’s defense chief concluded.
Former Swedish defense minister Hultqvist backed Jonson’s position as he said that this bridge had already been crossed regarding other countries. "Over my eight years as defense minister not a single meeting was held [on the issue], nor was there any pressure. This issue was never on the agenda," he said.
At present, the US has its nuclear weapons in a number of non-nuclear NATO member countries, namely, Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkey.