Mikhail Ulyanov, Russian official, claims Moscow’s right to deploy nuclear weapons in Crimea

A Russian Foreign Ministry official said on Wednesday that Moscow has the right to put nuclear weapons in the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea.

“I don’t know if there are nuclear weapons there now. I don’t know about any plans, but in principle Russia can do it,” said Mikhail Ulyanov, the head of the ministry’s department on arms control, Reuters reported Wednesday.

Mr. Ulyanov’s assertion comes just eight days after U.S. Army Europe Commander Ben Hodges told an audience in Berlin that Russia had 29,000 of its soldiers stationed in the Crimea peninsula that it annexed in 2014 and another 50,000 deployed on the other side of the border.

In February, the U.K. Joint Delegation to NATO said Russian SA-22 surface-to-air missile systems were also operating inside Ukraine. Russia continues to deny that it provides resources to pro-Russian separatists in the region.