Dark clouds of nuclear war are hovering after Russia explicitly said that there is a real risk of conflict going out of control over Ukraine.
“The danger is serious, real. It can’t be underestimated,” replied Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov when asked about avoiding the third World War.
“NATO, in essence, is engaged in a war with Russia through a proxy and is arming that proxy. War means war,” he said.
Invoking the Cuban missile crisis of 1962, when the US and the Soviet Union came close to nuclear war, Moscow and Washington had understood the rules of conduct between the superpowers, he said: “Now there are few rules left.”
However, he also mentioned that Russia will continue negotiations with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s representatives to try to reach a peace agreement.
It would be “useful” to hold discussions with the US too, “but we don’t observe any interest on their part regarding contacts on Ukraine or other issues,” said Lavrov.
Both sides have said the talks are at a dead end.
Lavrov has previously warned of the risks of a nuclear confrontation too, even as he has repeatedly declared that Russia’s “principled” position is the “inadmissibility of nuclear war.”
He isn’t responsible for military decision-making in Russia and hasn’t explained how he believes a nuclear conflict would begin.
His recent remarks came after US defense secretary LLoyd Austin said on Monday in Kyiv that Washington wants to see Russian forces “weakened to the degree that it can’t do the kinds of things that it has done in invading Ukraine.”
The US announced additional military aid for Ukraine as the war enters its 62nd day with Russian and Ukrainian armies facing off in the eastern Donbas region, where Moscow regrouped its forces after failing to take Kyiv early in the invasion.
Austin is also set to convene a meeting of more than 40 countries at a German airbase to discuss arming Ukraine.
Germany will allow delivery of 50 Gepard anti-aircraft tanks to Ukraine in its first step to supply heavy weapons to counter Russia’s invasion.
