Russia warns of direct clash with West
Called worst breakdown in relations since 1962 Cuban missile crisis
MOSCOW – Russia said Monday that U.S., British and French military support for Ukraine has pushed the world to the brink of a direct clash between the world’s biggest nuclear powers that could end in catastrophe.
President Vladimir Putin’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine has touched off the worst breakdown in relations between Russia and the West since the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, according to Russian and U.S. diplomats.
Just two days after U.S. lawmakers approved billions of dollars in additional military aid to Ukraine, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the United States and NATO were obsessed with the idea of inflicting “strategic defeat” on Russia.
Lavrov said Western support for Ukraine was putting the United States and its allies on the verge of a direct military clash with Russia.
“The Westerners are teetering dangerously on the brink of a direct military clash between nuclear powers, which is fraught with catastrophic consequences,” Lavrov told a Moscow conference on non-proliferation.
“Of particular concern is the fact that it is the ‘troika’ of Western nuclear states that are among the key sponsors of the criminal Kyiv regime, the main initiators of various provocative steps. We see serious strategic risks in this, leading to an increase in the level of nuclear danger.”
Since the war began, Russia has repeatedly warned of rising nuclear risks – warnings that the United States says it has to take seriously, though U.S. officials say they have seen no change in Russian nuclear posture.
Putin casts the war as part of a centuries-old battle with a decadent West which he says humiliated Russia after the Berlin Wall fell in 1989 by enlarging NATO and encroaching on what Moscow considers to be Russia’s historical sphere of influence.
Ukraine and its Western backers say the war is an imperial-style land grab by a corrupt dictatorship that will lead Russia into a strategic dead-end. Western leaders have vowed to work for a defeat of Russian forces in Ukraine, while ruling out any deployment of NATO personnel there.
As relations have deteriorated, Russia and the United States have both voiced regret about the disintegration of the web of arms-control treaties that sought to slow the Cold War arms race and reduce the risk of nuclear war.
Russia and the United States are by far the world’s biggest nuclear powers, holding more than 10,600 of the world’s 12,100 nuclear warheads. China has the third largest nuclear arsenal, followed by France and Britain.
Lavrov said that given the current crisis there was no basis for dialogue with the United States on arms control.
“In the context of an all-out hybrid war being waged against us, there is no basis for dialogue with the United States on arms control and strategic stability in general,” he said.
He accused the West of trying to impose restrictions on the nuclear arsetary nals of Russia and China while developing non-nuclear capabilities in an effort to achieve unilateral military superiority.
Lavrov said the West was building a global missile defense system which could decapitate a rival, basing nuclear weapons in Europe, basing mediumand shorter-range missiles in regions around the world and preparing to deploy weapons in space.
In February, Putin said Russia opposed the deployment of nuclear weapons in space, and his defense minister denied Washington’s accusations that Russia was developing a nuclear capability for space.
The United States says it is developing its defense capabilities in accordance with international agreements. It says it wants only the peaceful use of outer space and that its missile defense plans are defensive.
Lavrov also accused the West of waging a propaganda campaign to discredit Russia.
The West’s “goal is to divert attention of the international community from real threats in outer space, to achieve the allocation of additional financial resources to build up their national milispace capabilities,” Lavrov said.
“Our priority remains the development of an international legally binding instrument that establishes reliable guarantees to prevent the deployment of weapons in outer space.”
Russia claims second gain in two days in Ukraine’s Donetsk region
Russia said on Monday its forces had taken control of the village of Novomykhailivka 25 miles southwest of the Ukrainian city of Donetsk, the second advance it has announced in two days.
Reuters could not independently verify the Russian gain, reported by the defense ministry. Ukraine’s General Staff said in its regular morning report that Kyiv’s forces continued to hold back Russian attempts to advance near the village.
Russia’s defense ministry said in a statement that its southern group of forces had fully taken Novomykhailivka “and improved the tactical situation along the front line.”
On Sunday, Russia said it had taken control of the settlement of Bohdanivka, farther north. Bohdanivka lies northeast of Chasiv Yar, a strategic town located on high ground whose capture could open up the way for Russia to advance on several “fortress cities” in eastern Ukraine.
The Russian gains, if confirmed, underline the urgency for Ukraine of taking delivery of more than $60 billion in new U.S. military aid that the House of Representatives approved on Saturday. It is expected to be approved this week by the Senate and signed into law by President Joe Biden.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged Washington on Sunday to quickly turn the bill into law and proceed with the actual transfer of weapons, saying long-range arms and air defense systems were top priorities.
The Kremlin said on Monday that the new U.S. aid would not change the situation on the front lines.
The influx of weapons should improve Kyiv’s chances of averting a major Russian breakthrough in the east, military analysts say, but Kyiv still faces manpower shortages on the battlefield.