“Not Russia but Western World is Thinking about Nuclear War:” Lavrov
NEW DELHI, March 3: Russia has denied any move to take the current fight against Ukraine to the level of nuclear war. The Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov who while addressing the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday had talked of a “nuclear war,” clarified on Thursday that not Russia but he was speaking about the “minds of the western politicians.”
“I would like to point out that it’s in the heads of Western politicians that the idea of a nuclear war is spinning constantly, and not in the heads of Russians,” he said.
Lavrov had cautioned that the third world war, if take place, would be a “nuclear war and destructive” should the western world helped Ukraine with nuclear armaments. His warning had stunned the world fearing a nuclear holocaust if Russia continued to face stiff resistance from Ukraine or the NATO countries came out openly in aid of the beleaguered country.
In an online interview with the media on Thursday, Lavrov said, “It’s clear that World War Three can only be a nuclear war.” “Therefore I assure you that we will not allow any provocations to throw us off balance,” Lavrov added.
He also compared the United States to French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte and German dictator Adolf Hitler. “In their time, both Napoleon and Hitler set themselves the task of subjugating Europe. Now the Americans have subdued it,” Lavrov said.
Lavrov’s warning of a “nuclear war” sounded more authentic as it came close on the heels of the Russian President Vladimir Putin ordering Russia’s nuclear forces be put on high alert, accusing the West of taking “unfriendly” steps against his country.
Moscow has the world’s largest arsenal of nuclear weapons and a huge cache of ballistic missiles which form the backbone of the country’s deterrence forces. Putin announced the invasion last week in Ukraine to defend separatists in the east of the country, and “demilitarise and de-nazify” its pro-Western neighbour.
(Manas Dasgupta)
