Russia has the right to house nuclear weapons on its territory, if it deems this move to be necessary, while this also includes the option of stationing them in Crimea, a statement from the Foreign Ministry read.

"Russia obviously retains the right, if needed, to deploy its nuclear weapons anywhere on its national territory, including on the Crimean Peninsula," the Director of the Department for Non-Proliferation and Arms control at the Russian Foreign Ministry, Mikhail Ulyanov told the RIA Novosti news agency on Monday.

Ulyanov's statement comes in response to the Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin saying in May that the deployment of Russian arms in Crimea would violate the Non-Proliferation Treaty.