Swedish PM: We Open to Nuclear Weapon Deployment Amid War; Russia Wouldn't Have Attacked if Ukraine were NATO Member

Prime Minister of Sweden Ulf Kristersson admits the possibility of deploying nuclear weapons in the country in case of war.

This was reported by Sveriges Radio.

In June, the Swedish parliament will vote on a government bill on a military cooperation agreement with the United States, the so-called DCA agreement, which gives the US military the right to use 17 Swedish military bases across the country.

The agreement has been criticised because, unlike Denmark and Norway, it does not contain any reference to Sweden's nuclear weapons ban. The government believes that this is not necessary, as there is a parliamentary decision on the absence of nuclear weapons in Sweden in peacetime.

However, in an interview on Monday morning, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said that the issue could be reconsidered in the event of a war in Sweden.

"In a war situation, it's a completely different matter. If the worst should happen, democratic countries in our part of the world should of course be able to defend themselves against countries that might threaten with nuclear weapons," said Ulf Kristersson.

"But all of our NATO membership and all of our Swedish defence is aimed at preventing that from happening. If Ukraine were a NATO member, they would not have been attacked by Russia," he added.

Earlier, the Polish president also said that his country was ready to deploy nuclear weapons on its territory.

"If our allies decide to deploy nuclear weapons on our territory as part of a nuclear weapons exchange to strengthen the security of NATO's eastern flank, we are ready for that," President Andrzej Duda said.