MOSCOW, December 1. /TASS/. The presence of nuclear weapons in NATO non-nuclear member states does not cause problems in the alliance, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov stated on Wednesday.
"Let me shine the spotlight on the fact that despite our longstanding appeals to the US and NATO member states, we are concerned about the presence and state of deployment of such weapons on the territory of a group of NATO countries that are non-nuclear powers within the meaning of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). That is to say that this contradiction between the obligations of states that accept such weapons under the NPT, which is contrary to their status, and the presence of weapons on their territory, does not give rise to any problems within the alliance," he pointed out.
The Russian senior diplomat highlighted threatening signals that nuclear weapons may appear even closer to Russia’s borders. "I would like to ask those, for instance, at the leadership level of the alliance’s secretariat, who are sending such signals, are they actually aware that the countries closer to Russia’s borders, the so-called ‘frontline states’ to use NATO’s internal terminology, are non-nuclear states according to the NPT, or are they not aware [of that]? Or does the alliance’s secretariat not care about the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty?" the diplomat wondered.