“Two Russian planes that violated Swedish airspace earlier this month were equipped with nuclear weapons, it has emerged.
The flyover near the island of Gotland on March 2 was a deliberate act designed to intimidate Sweden, according to Swedish news channel TV4 Nyheterna.
A total of four planes had taken off from the Russian air base of Kaliningrad.
They consisted of two Sukhoi 24 attack planes, which were escorted by two Sukhoi 27 fighter jets.
It was the two attack planes which were, according to TV4 Nyheter sources, equipped with nuclear weapons.
The violation of Swedish territory lasted for about a minute.
The country’s air force deployed two JAS 39 Gripen which took pictures of the intruders.
It was then, say Swedish media, that it was confirmed the Russian planes were equipped with nuclear warheads.
‘This is a signal to Sweden that we have nuclear weapons and we could also consider using them,’ military strategic expert Stefan Ring told TV4 Nyheter.”
