SIMFEROPOL - According to the Crimean prime minister, the peninsula welcomes the potential deployment of nuclear weapons in the region if Russian President Vladimir Putin deems it necessary.
"If there is such an order from the supreme commander, we would support it," Sergei Aksenov said.
Earlier this week, the chair of the Russian State Duma Defense Committee, Vladimir Komoyedov, said that Russia was ready to place nuclear weapons in Crimea and that the Kremlin would not ask anyone's permission to do so.
According to the head of the department for nonproliferation and arms control at the Russian Foreign Ministry, Mikhail Ulyanov, as a sovereign state, Russia has the right to deploy nuclear weapons in its territory.
Moscow might deploy nuclear weapons to Crimea if the United States decides to supply Kiev with lethal weapons, Ulyanov added.
The West has been concerned over Russia's militarization of the peninsula. Since Russia's annexation of Crimea in March 2014, Moscow has quickly established its military presence in the region. NATO has been concerned that the Kremlin could use the peninsula's strategic location on the Black Sea as a launching pad. In anticipation of a future threat, NATO has been monitoring the peninsula for any indication that Moscow might move nuclear weapons to the area.
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