The head of the IAEA announced the erosion of norms against the background of Macron's statement on nuclear weapons

Discussions about nuclear weapons, such as French President Emmanuel Macron's statement on the protection of European countries with the French arsenal, indicate a blurring of norms in this area. This was stated on March 7 by the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, in an interview with Bloomberg.

"A few years ago, this discussion [about nuclear weapons] would have been taboo. But now there are such conversations in some countries. This is a constant erosion of norms," he said.

In these circumstances, Grossi called on the international community to welcome the intentions of US President Donald Trump on denuclearization. He noted that presidential diplomacy plays an extremely important role in reducing nuclear arsenals.

"We have already seen this with [US President] Ronald Reagan and [Soviet leader] Mikhail Gorbachev. We can see this with Trump and the rest. Arms control is carried out from the top down, not from the bottom up," the head of the IAEA emphasized.

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The nuclear umbrella, the deployment of European troops to Ukraine, and security guarantees

The day before, the American president said that he would like to return to negotiations on nuclear regulation with the Russian Federation and China. According to Trump, in his first term, he was very close to adopting a denuclearization program with the Russian Federation, and also discussed this issue with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

On March 5, Macron announced in his address to the nation that he intends to discuss the use of nuclear weapons in order to protect the entire European Union (EU). He called on the EU to provide itself with the largest amount of military equipment and build up defense capabilities "for the sake of peace itself." According to him, Russia allegedly began to pose a threat to France and Europe.

The next day, the Russian Foreign Ministry noted that Macron's speech clearly contained notes of nuclear blackmail. The diplomatic department added that Russia will take into account the statements of the French president in its defense planning.