Russia declares right to deploy nuclear weapons to Crimea – and may already have done so

‘Russia has said that it has the right to deploy nuclear weapons to Crimea, a year after Vladimir Putin seized the territory from Ukraine following a referendum.

Home to the strategic Black Sea port city of Sevastopol, which already housed Russia’s fleet before the Ukrainian crisis erupted at the start of 2014, Crimea is significantly nearer central Europe than any nuclear base Russia is thought to control.

“I don’t know if there are nuclear weapons there now,” a Russian foreign ministry official told the Interfax news agency on Wednesday.

“I don’t know about any plans, but in principle Russia can do it,” said Mikhail Ulyanov, who is the head of the ministry’s department on arms control.’

Read more: Russia declares right to deploy nuclear weapons to Crimea – and may already have done so