Russian foreign minister: Nuclear war danger is serious, real
Moscow, Apr 25 (EFE).- Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Monday warned that the danger of nuclear war “is serious, real. And we must not underestimate it.”
Lavrov made his remarks in an interview with Russian state television program “Big Game.”
He noted that in January the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council – Russia, the United States, China, the United Kingdom and France – said that nuclear war was unacceptable.
“This is our key position on which we base everything. The risks now are considerable,” said Lavrov.
“I would not want to elevate those risks artificially. Many would like that. The danger is serious, real, And we must not underestimate it,” Lavrov said, according to a transcript from the program posted on the Foreign Ministry’s Web site.
In addition, Russia’s top diplomat said that the weapons being sent by Western nations to Ukraine so that Kyiv can defend its territory and sovereignty against Moscow’s ongoing invasion will become a legitimate target for Russia’s armed forces.
According to the Russian foreign minister, the weapons depots in western Ukraine have already been repeatedly targeted by the Russian military.
Lavrov went on to say that if NATO, in effect, gets into a war with Russia via another party and arms that party, then “all’s fair in love and war.”
Regarding the shipment of weapons to Ukraine, he said that this is another example of the US disdain for international law and of Washington following its own rules based on the principle of, in effect, “I can do anything I want.”
He also said that Russia will continue negotiating with Ukraine to find a way to end the war, but he warned that what Moscow calls its “special operation” in Ukraine will end with a treaty based on the “current situation” of military operations at the time such a deal is struck.
So far, no significant progress has been made at the Kyiv-Moscow peace talks.
Lavrov added, however, that Russia intends to keep talking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s representatives, declaring that “Those contacts will continue.”
Russia’s foreign minister accused the government in Kyiv of keeping civilians “as human shields” in the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, a huge industrial complex that is being defended by some 1,500 Ukrainian troops against a massive encircling Russian force.
EFE
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