According to Sergey Lavrov, the foreign minister of Russia, any conflict between nuclear-armed states should be avoided at all costs because it is likely to turn into a full-scale nuclear exchange.
The ambassador was questioned over the combined efforts made by Moscow and Washington to weaken their strategic capabilities. Long before Russia began its military campaign in Ukraine, Lavrov pointed out that the US had effectively stopped bilateral negotiations to establish an agreement on the limits of strategic offensive armaments in September 2021.
The minister continued by saying that Russia was ready to go further and reiterating that any confrontation involving nuclear-armed states is unacceptable since there is a “great” possibility that a conventional battle may turn into a nuclear one.
“Аny war between nuclear powers is unacceptable. Еven if someone decides to start it using conventional means, there will be a huge risk of it escalating into a nuclear one,” Lavrov stated during a press conference on Thursday.
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“This is also why we are so anxiously watching the rhetoric the West spews out accusing us of preparing some alleged provocations using weapons of mass destruction,” Lavrov said, noting that the West, including the USA, France and the UK, are doing everything to increase their almost direct participation in the conflict in Ukraine, where he says they are essentially waging war against Russia through the hands of the Ukrainians.
“This is a dangerous trend,” Lavrov warned.
Since Putin threatened in late September to protect Russia’s land and people using “all the weapons and resources we have,” the possibility of a nuclear war has gained a lot of attention. His comments were then generally regarded as a subliminal nuclear warning by Western pundits and policymakers. Later, Putin corrected his remark by noting that neither Moscow nor any of its allies have threatened to use nuclear weapons, let alone discussed tactical nuclear weapons.
Lavrov repeated Moscow’s nuclear doctrine during the news conference on Thursday, according to which the use of WMDs is only permissible in retaliation to enemy nuclear strikes or to conventional strikes that endanger the Russian state.
