MOSCOW, March 25. /TASS/. Russia will have to expand its target catalog for a retaliatory nuclear strike if European countries like Poland and Sweden decide to deploy nuclear weapons on their territory, Andrey Kartapolov, head of the Defense Committee of the State Duma (lower house of Russia’s parliament), stated this in an interview with TASS.
"Nuclear weapons facilities appear in countries like Sweden or Poland, which pose a direct and immediate threat to our country. What should we do? The first thing we should do is update the target catalog for a retaliatory strike or launch under attack by strategic nuclear forces. That is, these facilities that appear in Sweden, Poland, or other European countries automatically become targets," the lawmaker said.
Kartapolov also emphasized that current European politicians have no idea what risks a country is taking when it decides to deploy military facilities with nuclear weapons on its territory. "The power of a nuclear weapon is incomparable to a conventional one; the destruction of this target would inevitably entail the destruction of a significant portion of this country’s territory, including its entire infrastructure and population," he noted.
Previously, several European politicians discussed the prospects of deploying nuclear weapons in their countries. For example, Polish President Karol Nawrocki, in an interview with Polsat television, stated that he is a strong supporter of the country joining the nuclear project. Swedish Defense Minister Paul Johnson did not rule out the possibility of deploying nuclear weapons on Swedish territory in wartime.