MOSCOW, March 4 (Reuters) - Russia said on Wednesday that France's plan to expand its nuclear arsenal was a highly destabilising move that posed a potential threat to Moscow.
French President Emmanuel Macron announced the plan on Monday, saying other European countries would also be able to take part in French nuclear exercises. France and Germany said they had set up a nuclear steering group to discuss deterrence issues.
Macron first said in March 2025 that he would launch a strategic dialogue on extending the protection of France's nuclear umbrella to European allies that have until now relied on the United States.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters that Macron's announcement this week was "an extremely destabilising development".
It represented "a significant strengthening and expansion of NATO's nuclear potential, which, in the event of a direct military conflict with Russia, could be used in a coordinated manner against our country," she said.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, speaking separately to reporters, said the French move vindicated Moscow's position that French and British nuclear weapons should be part of any future negotiation on the global nuclear balance.
Russia says it is open to such talks following the expiry last month of New START, the last bilateral treaty that limited the numbers of Russian and U.S. strategic nuclear warheads and missiles.
(Reporting by Dmitry Antonov, writing by Mark TrevelyanEditing by Andrew Osborn)
