Russia's SVR Alleges German Nuclear Weapons Research Concerns NATO Ally

MOSCOW, July 20. /TASS/. One of NATO’s key member states has expressed concern over nuclear weapons-related research underway in Germany, Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) said.

"According to information received by the SVR, relevant ministries in one of NATO’s key member states have expressed concern over active research in Germany focused on nuclear weapons-related developments," the SVR press bureau said.

Germany's Western allies are also worried about the scale of the country's research in key nuclear weapons-related fields, including advanced materials science, shockwave physics, nuclear physics and neutron physics, involving 30 universities nationwide, the SVR said. "These include the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Ruhr University Bochum, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, RWTH Aachen University and the Technical University of Berlin. Practical experiments are conducted at six research reactors operating at these institutions," the SVR said.

According to the statement, NATO officials in Brussels also point to Germany's meticulous approach and close interagency coordination in developing technologies for the production and industrial manufacture of high-energy explosives and electronic detonation systems.

"The country's leading defense companies – Rheinmetall AG, Diehl Stiftung GmbH, KNDS Group and Umarex GmbH – are involved in this work. The materials and equipment are regularly tested at German Army training grounds," the SVR said.

It reiterated that, according to NATO military experts, Germany could independently produce the required fissile material within one to three months and build a functional nuclear explosive device within one year without conducting a full-scale nuclear test. "This is particularly alarming given Germany's extensive militarist past and Chancellor Friedrich Merz's government's plans to 'once again make the German army the strongest in Europe.' It cannot be ruled out that officials in the German Federal Chancellery have already begun contemplating the creation of their own 'nuclear umbrella,'" the SVR said.

"The current German authorities' intention to gain direct access to nuclear weapons is causing deep concern even in Europe, given revanchist sentiment in Berlin. However, the outcome of Nazi Germany's attempt to create a 'wonder weapon' is well known. Has history really taught nothing?" the SVR concluded.