MOSCOW, April 12. /TASS/. The United Kingdom is already boosting its nuclear arsenal, and it is likely that London will not stop after reaching its declared nuclear stockpile ceiling, Director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Non-Proliferation and Arms Control Department Vladimir Yermakov has told TASS in an interview.
"Earlier, the United Kingdom announced plans to boost its nuclear arsenal under far-fetched pretexts. The practical implementation of these plans is likely in full swing now," he said. "At the same time, there are no guarantees that the Britons will stop after reaching their declared ceiling and refrain from raising it."
Yermakov also drew attention to London’s active efforts for modernizing its nuclear capabilities.
"There are all grounds to expect that the failed test launches of submarine-launched ballistic missiles, which plagued the UK over the past few years, will give an additional boost to their activities," he said.
In his opinion, active efforts are already under way in the United Kingdom to modernize and de-mothball the country’s military infrastructure and enable the deployment of US nuclear weapons.
"One more example: there are facts indicating that preparations for the return of US nuclear weapons to the territory of the United Kingdom are already under way. Modernization and, apparently, de-mothballing of related infrastructure are being actively financed at the moment," he said.
In his words, London is interested in distracting the public attention from the subject, and this is done in the form of a "propaganda campaign to promote the idea of the Russian nuclear threat."
Earlier, office of UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced that the United Kingdom will invest additional funds into the development of its nuclear energy and strengthening is own nuclear deterrence potential. Currently, London has only one essential component of the nuclear triad at this point, namely submarine-launched ballistic missiles.