One of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s closest allies warned the West on Thursday that growing US and allied military support for Ukraine could jeopardize a clash between Russia and NATO’s military alliance.
Former President Dmitry Medvedev, the current vice-president of Russia’s Security Council, has said that such a conflict with NATO always risks turning into a full-fledged nuclear war.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24 killed thousands of people, destroyed areas of its former Soviet neighbor and raised fears of a more serious conflict between Russia and the United States since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, Reuters reported.
“NATO countries supplying weapons to Ukraine, training troops to use Western equipment, sending mercenaries, and Allied exercises near our borders increase the likelihood of a direct and open conflict between NATO and Russia,” Medvedev said. via a relevant post on Telegram.
“Such a conflict always runs the risk of turning into a full-blown nuclear war,” Medvedev said, adding: “This is going to be a catastrophic scenario for everyone.”
Russia and the United States are by far the largest nuclear powers in the world: Russia has about 6,257 nuclear warheads, while NATO’s three nuclear powers – the United States, the United Kingdom and France – have a total of about 6,065 nuclear warheads, according to Washington-based Arms Control Association.
Putin has argued that a “special military operation” in Ukraine – as he calls it war – is necessary because the United States was using Ukraine to threaten Russia, and Moscow had to defend the security of Russian-speakers.
Putin, who has argued that Ukraine and Russia are essentially one people, sees the war as an inevitable confrontation with the United States, which he accuses of threatening Russia through NATO enlargement to the east.
Ukraine, for its part, says it is fighting an imperial-type seizure of land and that Putin’s claims of genocide are nonsense. Kyiv says Putin’s invasion has strengthened the Ukrainian people ‘s desire to turn west, out of Russia’s orbit of influence.
Source: Capital
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