Russia has already deployed potential nuclear weapons in occupied Crimea, according to First Deputy Foreign Minister Emine Dzhaparova.
Dzhaparova made the announcement at the forum “Ukraine 30. International Politics” on July 6.
“Russia is actively expanding its military infrastructure for nuclear arms and reconstructing the infrastructure of Soviet-era nuclear warheads. Potential nuclear weapons carriers are already stationed on the peninsula,” she said.
Dzhaparova added that Russia has been consistently increasing the presence of its military and military technology in Crimea while at the same time blocking off parts of the Black Sea, including those in the direction of the Kerch Strait, under the pretense of carrying out military training.
Meanwhile, any and all forms of resistance to the occupation on the peninsula driven by Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars are violently suppressed.
She also noted that since the beginning of the occupation of Crimea, Russia has broken international humanitarian laws, calling up nearly 30,000 Ukrainian citizens for military service.
“Russia is сarrying out an artificial and deliberate replacement of the population of Crimea, crushing those disloyal to the regime and replacing them with hundreds of thousands of citizens, which amounts to war crimes,” Dzhaparova said.
With the self-claimed right to block the Black and Azov Seas at the Russian National Guard’s disposal and creating sufficient obstacles for international navigation, Ukraine’s security and stability are under threat.
In March 2021, NATO General Secretary Jens Stoltenberg announced the Alliance’s plan to increase its presence in the Black Sea.
The development follows a pending build-up of Russian military presence in the Black Sea amounting to the transformation of the peninsula into a military base. The Kremlin has actively restored Soviet-era military infrastructure that some argue is competent enough for the storage of nuclear weapons.
After achieving independence in 1991, Ukraine underwent a process of denuclearization after joining the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT).
Since Russia considers its annexation of Crimea legitimate, it posits that Crimea has stopped being a denuclearized zone since the beginning of the occupation – a sentiment expressed back in 2014 by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in a meeting with then-US Secretary of State John Kerry.
