RUSSIA – According to a statement by the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) on Wednesday, the European Union is secretly working on the creation of their own nuclear weapons.

“In the endless corridors of the European Union headquarters, they have already begun secretly working on the issue of creating their own nuclear weapons production potential, of course, as the EU says, solely to contain the mythical Russian threat,” the statement said.

The SVR warned that the EU had taken a dangerous path which would undermine global security architecture and the international system for the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

According to SVR, the EU leadership had agreed to ensure a closed regime for the development of nuclear weapons.

The EU will also create an autonomous nuclear forces command.

“It is planned to formalize the pan-European doctrine of nuclear deterrence, based on French and UK military-technical capabilities, as well as financial and infrastructural contributions from EU countries that do not possess nuclear weapons. At the same time, the European Union will reserve for itself the possibility of creating a fully autonomous command of nuclear forces,” SVR statement said.

The UK and France would continue to coordinate their national nuclear doctrines.

According to the proposal, Germany would secretly obtain weapons-grade plutonium from laboratories in Karlsruhe, Dresden, Erlangen and Julich within a month, and weapons-grade uranium at uranium enrichment plant in Gronau within a week.

“German specialists are able to covertly obtain enough weapons-grade plutonium for one nuclear explosive device in the hot chambers of research laboratories in Karlsruhe, Dresden, Erlangen and Julich within about a month, and weapons-grade uranium at the enrichment plant in Gronau within a week,” the statement added.

The SVR called on other nations to prevent EU from developing nuclear weapons to avoid a new global arms race.

“We draw the attention of the US administration and the leadership of all other countries to the need to do everything possible to prevent the European Union from developing its own nuclear weapons and the inevitable new round of the global nuclear arms race that would follow,” it said.

The SVR warned that the EU possess the capabilities of developing nuclear weapons.

“The EU’s plans rest on a solid industrial and technical foundation. It is noteworthy that Germany, Italy, the Czech Republic, Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Spain already possess significant expertise in the development of individual components of nuclear weapons,” SVR said.

“A large quantity of irradiated nuclear fuel from decommissioned nuclear power plant units is stored on their territories, and there is a possibility of its unauthorized removal from storage facilities for the subsequent separation of plutonium suitable for making an atomic bomb,” it added.