MOSCOW: Russia has no plan for nuclear escalation in its standoff with the West over Ukraine but others should not test its patience, said Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on Thursday.
Her comments follow a flood of warnings by the senior Russian officials, including President Vladimir Putin, that Western military support for Ukraine was increasing the risk of a disastrous nuclear conflict. “We will do everything to prevent the development of events according to the worst scenario, but not at the cost of infringing on our vital interests,” Zakharova told a news conference. “I do not recommend that anybody doubt our determination and put it to the test in practice,” she said further.
Russia has been strongly criticizing the supply of Western arms to Ukraine and the expansion of the NATO alliance closer to its borders. Finland, which shares a long border with Russia, this month became the 31st member of NATO, while Ukraine itself also wishes to join the organisation, though it still faces opposition from some countries.
“They [the United States] continue to deliberately infringe on our fundamental interests, deliberately generate risks and raise the stakes in the confrontation with Russia…,” said Zakharova.
A close Putin ally and former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev said earlier this week that the world was “quite probably on the verge of a new world war.”
Putin terms the 14-month war in Ukraine as something “special military operation” and an existential battle with an aggressive and arrogant West. He has said that Russia will use all available means to protect itself against any aggressor.
The United States and its allies, however, have condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as an imperial land grab. Ukraine has vowed fighting until all Russian troops withdraw from its territory.
