MOSCOW: The possible deployment of French nuclear bombers across the EU will not enhance security on the continent, the Kremlin said Wednesday, after French President Emmanuel Macron said he was ready to discuss the issue.
“The proliferation of nuclear weapons on the European continent is something that will not add security, predictability, or stability to the European continent,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
The French president floated the idea during a TV appearance on Tuesday, comparing it to the United States’s nuclear umbrella policy that guarantees Washington would reciprocate if its allies come under nuclear attack.
“The Americans have the bombs on planes in Belgium, Germany, Italy, Turkiye,” Macron told TF1 television.
“We are ready to open this discussion. I will define the framework in a very specific way in the weeks and months to come.”
France is the EU’s only nuclear-armed nation.
Amid Russia’s offensive on Ukraine and US President Donald Trump’s calls on Europe to take more of the burden for its own defense, discussion is growing over extending Paris’s nuclear deterrent to the rest of the 27-member bloc.
Russia, the world’s biggest nuclear power, possesses about 4,000 warheads and views France’s nuclear deterrence as a potential threat to its national security.
“At present, the entire system of strategic stability and security is in a deplorable state for obvious reasons,” Peskov added.
Amid his offensive on Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin has several times threatened nuclear escalation, drawing rebukes from the West over “reckless” rhetoric.

FRANKFURT: German prosecutors said Wednesday they had arrested three Ukrainians accused of plotting sabotage attacks on goods transports for Russia, amid soaring tensions between Moscow and Berlin.

The suspects, detained in Germany and Switzerland, had told individuals “believed to be acting on behalf of Russian state authorities” that they were ready “to commit arson and explosive attacks on goods transport in Germany,” federal prosecutors said.

The accused allegedly aimed to send packages from Germany containing explosive devices to recipients in Ukraine, which would go off as they were being transported, they said.

Germany has been on high alert for sabotage plots directed from Moscow since Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine led to a rapid deterioration in ties.

In a speech to parliament Wednesday, new Chancellor Friedrich Merz accused Russia of targeting Germany and other European countries with acts ranging from cyberattacks, espionage and sabotage to disinformation, poison attacks and murders.

Such acts were “overwhelmingly the work of the Russian government and its helpers,” he said, accusing Moscow of “attempts at division and destabilization.”

In the latest case Wednesday, one of the suspects, partially identified as Vladyslav T., posted two test packages in Cologne at the end of March, which contained GPS trackers, prosecutors said.

The order to send them was given by Yevhen B., who provided the contents from the packages via the third suspect, Daniil B.

The suspects, arrested between Friday last week and Tuesday, are “strongly suspected” of acting as foreign agents for the purpose of carrying out sabotage, prosecutors said.

They are also accused of plotting to commit arson and cause explosions.

Vladyslav T. and Daniil B., arrested in the German cities of Cologne and Konstanz, respectively, have been remanded in custody.

Yevhen B. was detained in the Swiss canton of Thurgau, and is due to appear before a judge after being transferred to Germany.

Moscow-Berlin relations have been in the deep freeze since Russia invaded Ukraine and the West imposed a barrage of punishing sanctions.

Germany, Kyiv’s second-biggest military back after the United States, has been shaken by a string of alleged sabotage and espionage cases linked to Russia.

In a case separate from Wednesday’s arrests, media recently reported that European intelligence services believed that Russia was behind a plot to plant explosive devices on cargo planes.

Several people reportedly implicated in the operation, which saw parcels explode at two DHL depots last July, were thought to be low-level operatives hired by Moscow.

In other cases of alleged Russian interference, a former German intelligence officer stands accused of handing sensitive information to Moscow while Berlin has blamed Moscow for being behind a cyberattack on members of the center-left SPD party.

Russia has denied being behind such actions.

Merz has vowed to keep up Germany’s support for Ukraine, insisting that: “There must be no doubt where we stand: namely... on the side of this attacked country.”