Russia’s top diplomat warned Saturday against “trying to fight for victory with nuclear power,” in a speech at the United Nations General Assembly filled with condemnations of what Russia sees as Western machinations in Ukraine and elsewhere — including within the United Nations itself.
Three days after Russian President Vladimir Putin’s broadcast A shift in his country’s nuclear doctrineRussian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused the West of using Ukraine – which Russia invaded in February 2022 – as a tool to try to “defeat” Moscow strategically, and “preparing Europe to also throw itself into this suicidal adventure.”
He said: “I will not talk here about the foolishness and danger of the idea of trying to fight for victory with nuclear power, which is what Russia represents.”
Putin’s latest announcement – which appeared to significantly lower the threshold for possible use of Russia’s nuclear arsenal – was seen as a message to the United States and other Western countries as Ukraine seeks the green light to strike Russia with a nuclear weapon. Long range weapons.
“Whether they will give Ukraine permission to acquire long-range weapons or not, we will see what their understanding of what they heard is,” Lavrov said at a press conference after his speech on Saturday.
The Biden administration announced this week An additional $2.7 billion in military aid As for Ukraine, it does not include the type of long-range weapons that Zelensky seeks to obtain, nor the green light to use such weapons to strike deep into Russia.
The specter of nuclear threats and confrontation has haunted the war in Ukraine since its beginning. Shortly before the invasion, Putin reminded the world that his country “One of the most powerful nuclear countries“, and put forward its nuclear power On high alert Soon after. Since then, his nuclear rhetoric has escalated and his tone has softened at various points.
Putin said on Wednesday that if it was attacked by any country backed by a nuclear-armed state, Russia would consider it a joint attack.
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He did not specify whether this would lead to a nuclear response, but stressed that Russia could use nuclear weapons in response to a conventional attack that poses a “serious threat to our sovereignty.”
The United States and the European Union described his statements as “irresponsible.”
There was no immediate response to Lavrov’s speech from the United States, as a junior diplomat was taking notes in the assembly seat as he spoke.
After more than two and a half years of fighting, Russia is making slow but sustained gains in eastern Ukraine. Ukraine repeatedly bombed Russian territory with missiles and drones, embarrassing Moscow with its bold behavior. Incursion by troops In a border area last month.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has pushed what he calls… Peace formula To end the war. The provisions include expelling all Russian forces from Ukraine, ensuring accountability for war crimes, releasing prisoners of war and deportees, and more.
Lavrov rejected Zelensky’s formula as “an ultimatum doomed to failure.”
Meanwhile, it was Brazil and China Floating the peace plan This requires holding a peace conference with both Ukraine and Russia and not expanding the battlefield or escalating the fighting. Chinese and Brazilian diplomats have been promoting the plan during the General Assembly and have attracted dozens of other countries, mostly in Africa or Latin America, to join Ukraine’s “Friends of Peace” group.
Lavrov said in his press conference that Russia is ready to provide assistance and advice to the group, adding that “it is important that their proposals are supported by reality and not taken only from some abstract talks.”
He said resolving the conflict hinges on fixing its “root causes” — what Moscow asserts is the Kiev government’s repression of Russian speakers in eastern Ukraine, and NATO’s expansion into Eastern Europe over the years, which Russia sees as a threat to its security.
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