Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accuses the US and NATO of building a “nuclear threat” against Russia by reintroducing Cold War practices, according to Greek Newsvoice.
“The US and its NATO satellites are creating a risk of direct military conflict with Russia and this could have catastrophic consequences,” Lavrov said in an interview with Lenta.
“Russia cannot ignore the fact that the F-16s that various countries have announced they will provide the Ukrainian air force with are capable of carrying nuclear weapons”.
“The very fact that such systems will appear in the hands of the Ukrainian armed forces will be considered a nuclear threat by the West,” he insisted.
The Russian foreign minister denied scenarios that Moscow plans to use tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine. The Russian doctrine on the use of nuclear weapons stipulates that Moscow will use them only in two cases:
- if the country is attacked with nuclear weapons or if
- Russia is attacked in a way that threatens its existence.
The training of Ukrainian pilots in F-16s will start in August 2023 in Romania. This was announced during the NATO summit in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, in July, according to Greek Newsvoice. The training does not necessarily mean that F-16s will be delivered and it is not clear how many could be sent or when.
Lavrov also accused NATO of reverting completely to Cold War patterns, something Russia does not want.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky received long-term assurances about the country’s security and a promise that Ukraine would receive an invitation to join NATO.
Zelensky stressed that “all doubts or ambiguities about whether Ukraine will become a NATO member state have been removed. It will be.”
The Russian Foreign Ministry warns that the NATO military alliance’s commitment to strengthening the capabilities of Ukraine’s armed forces on land, at sea, and in the air is a way to escalate the armed conflict.
“The new package of promises to provide the Kyiv regime with ever more sophisticated and longer-range weapons is designed to prolong the conflict of attrition for as long as possible,” he said.
“The organization [NATO] has completely reverted to Cold War patterns”.
Western powers are determined to divide the world between those countries they consider to be governed by “democracies” and those they consider to be governed by “authoritarian regimes”, Lavrov said.
Lavrov:
“In the firing line of this policy that seeks enemies, today there is only Russia”.
By NewsVoice.se. Source: Greek Newsvoice.gr