Newest NATO member Sweden open to hosting NUCLEAR WEAPONS – but only during wartime

05/20/2024 / By Ramon Tomey

Sweden, the newest member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), has expressed willingness to host nuclear weapons in the country – but only during a wartime scenario.

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson made this remark during an interview with Swedish public radio. According to him, Stockholm is more than open to host nuclear weapons during a conflict, arguing that “in a war situation, it’s a completely different matter.”

“It would depend entirely on what would happen. In the absolute worst-case scenario, the democratic countries in our part of the world must ultimately be able to defend themselves against countries that could threaten us with nuclear weapons.”

Sweden became the newest member of NATO, joining the alliance as its 32nd member in March. When Stockholm first requested membership, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow wouldn’t object to the move unless more weapons were deployed to Swedish territory.

“We do not have such problems with Sweden and Finland which, unfortunately, we have with Ukraine. We have no territorial issues, no disputes. We have nothing that could bother us from the point of view of Finland’s or Sweden’s membership in NATO,” the Russian leader said at the time.

“Only they should plainly and clearly realize that there were no threats before. Now, if military contingents and infrastructure are deployed there, we will have to respond in a mirror manner and create the same threats to the territories from which threats are created to us.”

According to the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, the U.S. has an estimated 100 B61 nuclear gravity bombs in Europe. These bombs are kept in six bases located in five nations – Volkel Air Base in the Netherlands, Kleine Brogel Air Base in Belgium, Buchel Air Base in Germany, Incirlik Air Base in Turkey and the Ghedi and Aviano air bases in Italy.

Poland also interested in hosting nuclear weapons

Kristersson’s remarks came as Stockholm hosted the leaders of Germany and its Nordic neighbors Denmark, Finland, Norway and Iceland to discuss deepening military ties.

“For decades, we have lived very peacefully and without very big threats to Europe. Personally, I think these times are over,” Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said during the summit.

“With all that we see from the Russian side, we are at the beginning of a new era. It would be wrong if we, as a government, said ‘You don’t have to deal with this in your everyday life.”

Meanwhile, Polish President Andrzej Duda also expressed willingness for Warsaw to become the sixth country to host NATO nuclear weapons. He shared this in an interview with the Polish tabloid Fakt.

“I must admit that when asked about [hosting nuclear weapons], I declared our readiness. Recently, [Russia] has been relocating its nuclear weapons to Belarus,” said Duda. “If our allies decide to deploy nuclear weapons as part of nuclear-sharing also on our territory to strengthen the security of NATO’s eastern flank, we are ready for it.”

The Polish leader remarked that he expects some, but not universal, access to nuclear weapons if they are moved onto Polish territory. Duda continued: “We don’t have such a tradition. There has never been, unless my memory serves me wrong, such complete universal access to weapons in Poland. We can discuss loosening some of the shackles of requirements in this area, but I would be cautious about completely universal access to weapons.” (Related: Polish spymaster claims Russia planning to test NATO response by INVADING neighboring countries.)

In the same manner, Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov said Moscow would respond if NATO moved forward with Duda’s proposal. He explained: “The military will, of course, analyze the situation if such plans are implemented, and in any case will do everything necessary, [will take] all the necessary retaliatory steps to guarantee our safety.”

Head over to NuclearWeapons.news for similar stories.

Watch this clip that discusses Russia’s use of nuclear weapons in military drills.

This video is from the High Hopes channel on Brighteon.com.