Sweden Not Ruling Out Deployment of Nuclear Weapons in Wartime

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Sweden does not exclude a possibility of deploying nuclear weapons on its territory during wartime, while there is no such necessity in times of peace, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said on Monday.

“We have two draft legislation prepared. According to them, Sweden says that we will not have permanent [NATO] troops or nuclear weapons deployed on Swedish territory in the time of peace … It is another thing during wartime. In this case, all NATO members will benefit from the ‘nuclear umbrella,’ which should exist as long as Russia possesses nuclear weapons,” the prime minister told Sveriges Radio.

The democratic states should be capable of defending themselves from those countries who threaten them with the use of nuclear weapons, Kristersson said.

“Our NATO membership and all the Swedish defense is aimed at preventing such a situation,” Kristersson said, adding that there would have been no conflict right now in case of Ukraine's NATO membership.

In June, the Swedish parliament is expected to vote on the Defense Cooperation Agreement (DCA) with the United States which was signed in December 2023. The agreement provides the US with access to the Swedish training grounds, military camps, ports, air bases and airports in 17 Swedish settlements throughout the country.

Sweden and Finland simultaneously submitted applications to join NATO in May 2022. Finland became the 31st member of the alliance on April 4, 2023. Sweden officially became the 32nd NATO member state on March 7.

In recent years, Russia has witnessed unprecedented NATO activity near its western borders. Moscow has repeatedly expressed concern about the alliance's buildup of forces in Europe. The Russian Foreign Ministry has said that Moscow remains open to dialogue with NATO but on an equal footing, while the West should abandon its policy of militarizing the continent.