HL Deb 06 December 1973 vol 347 c752

3.8 p.m.

LORD KENNET

My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.

The Question was as follows:

To ask Her Majesty's Government if they know whether the Soviet Union has brought nuclear warheads for SCUD missiles into Egypt.

EARL FERRERS

My Lords, we have no confirmation of reports which have appeared in the Press recently on this subject.

LORD KENNET

My Lords, supposing these reports, which are quite circumstantial, were true, would it not be an extraordinarily grave matter that the Soviet Union, which can hit any place on earth with its nuclear missiles from Soviet territory, should have deliberately placed the future of the State of Israel to some extent at the will of the Egyptian Government by moving their nuclear warheads into Egypt?

EARL FERRERS

My Lords, I can only reassure the noble Lord, Lord Kennet, that we have no confirmation that this has happened. I would remind him that in fact Russia has herself signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty.