The nuclear arsenals of France and the United Kingdom are de facto under the control of the United States, and in this regard, the reduction of nuclear potential of Russia and the United States should be discussed taking this factor into account, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday.
"From our point of view, of course, the nuclear arsenals of both France and the United Kingdom are de facto under the control of the United States, therefore, if we talk with the US, then talking without taking into account these two arsenals is absolutely meaningless," Peskov told reporters, commenting on Legendre's statement.
The statement comes as on Wednesday French Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Anne-Claire Legendre claimed that Paris could join possible negotiations on strategic arms control only if Russia and the United States significantly reduce their nuclear arsenals to the level of the French ones.
"As for the idea of France's participation in arms control negotiations, our position has long been formulated and is clear. It has not changed for decades. Thus, back in 1983 France said that the key condition under which it could take part in negotiations on strategic arms control should be a significant reduction in the gap between the arsenals of the two major nuclear powers and its own arsenal," Legendre told Russian media.
She added that there was still a very significant disparity between the capabilities of the two major nuclear powers, the US and Russia, and those of France.
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute has estimated that France had 280 deployed warheads, while the US had 1,744 and Russia had 1,588 deployed warheads, as of 2022.