“I would like to warn American military planners about the fallacy of their assumptions that a limited nuclear conflict is possible. They apparently hope that the United States would be able to take cover behind the ocean if such a conflict happens in Europe with British and French nuclear weapons,” Anatoly Antonov said in an article published on the website of the American National Interest magazine on Wednesday.
“I would stress that this is an extremely dangerous "experiment." It is safe to assume that any use of nuclear weapons could quickly lead to an escalation of a local or regional conflict into a global one,” he added.
Antonov further said he wants to believe that “despite all the difficulties, Russians and the Americans have not yet approached a dangerous threshold of falling into the abyss of nuclear conflict,” stressing that it is important to stop threatening Russia.
His remarks came after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in an interview with CBS’ 60 Minutes news program on Sunday warned Russia about constant talk of nuclear weapons amid the ongoing war in Ukraine.
“[The US has been] very clear with the Russians to stop the loose talk about nuclear weapons,” Blinken said, adding, “It’s very important that Moscow hear from us and know from that, the consequences would be horrific. We’ve made that very clear.”
“Russia understands very well what the United States would do in response to the use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine because we have spelled it out for them, and I will leave it at that today. But as far as the question of deterrence is concerned, you know, Russia will make its decisions, but it will do so fully understanding that the United States will respond decisively,” he said.
US approaching ‘dangerous brink’ in Ukraine
In response to Blinken’s comments, Antonov called on the US to stop supplying Ukraine with weapons, warning that Washington is reaching a “dangerous brink” in its support of the former Soviet state.
“The [US] administration continues to ignore the fact that arms supplies to Ukraine lead to a further escalation of the conflict,” he said.
“American and NATO military equipment sows death and destruction. Civilians and children are dying. Irreparable damage is being done to residential areas, schools, and hospitals,” he added.
The Russian diplomat went on to say that “Washington does not realize the riskiness of its actions,” emphasizing that "The patrons of neo-Nazi criminals are approaching the dangerous brink that we have repeatedly and clearly warned about.”
He also noted that the US has become “a part of the Ukrainian conflict,” stressing that diplomatic efforts to find a peaceful solution to the crisis cannot be effective while the collective West uses Kiev “as a military mercenary against Russia.”
“Our steps to defend the Fatherland will be firm and resolute,” he said.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov has also warned the US about its involvement in the conflict with Ukraine following Blinken’s comments over the weekend, calling on Washington to "cool down" before they bring the conflict “closer to a dangerous line.”
“We tell our American interlocutors again and again, to use the most neutral word, that they should, as they say, cool down and not pump up the situation, not bring it closer to a dangerous line,” he said.
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