Russia accuses U.S. of deception in nuclear talks
…warns of escalating hybrid war in Ukraine
Recent statements by U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration that Washington is ready for nuclear talks without preconditions with Russia, China, and North Korea are a “deception,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
“The call to talk about strategic stability, about control over nuclear weapons without preconditions, is a deception,” Lavrov told the news outlet Argumenty i Fakty in remarks published early Monday. “What does ‘without preconditions’ mean? It means that the Americans reserve the right to declare us an enemy in their doctrinal documents.”
In a note to the Japanese organization Nihon Hidankyo, a grassroots movement of atomic bomb survivors from Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the White House said it stood “ready to engage in talks with Russia, China, and North Korea without preconditions to reduce the nuclear threat.”
Lavrov said this statement means that Washington reserves the right to officially declare its goal to inflict a “strategic defeat” on Russia on the battlefield.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and the ongoing conflict have triggered the biggest confrontation between Moscow and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, when the Soviet Union and the U.S. came close to nuclear war. Russia calls its actions in Ukraine a “special military operation” and accuses Washington and its NATO allies of waging a hybrid war in Ukraine. Kyiv and its Western allies counter that Moscow’s aggression is an unprovoked imperialistic attempt to seize land.
The 2-1/2-year-old war is entering its most dangerous phase, Moscow has recently warned, as Russian forces advance in eastern Ukraine and the U.S. considers allowing Kyiv to strike deep into Russia with Western missiles. In recent weeks, Russia has lowered its threshold for the use of nuclear weapons and cautioned Washington and its allies that their support for Ukraine risks leading to a direct conflict with Moscow, which could escalate to nuclear warfare.
In a wide-ranging interview with Argumenty i Fakty, Lavrov said Moscow is watching the U.S. election campaign between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.
“We are ready to work with any administration that the American people ultimately choose, but only if such a conversation is mutually respectful and equal,” Lavrov stated. “We are currently monitoring the election campaign in the U.S., and at the moment, we do not see any signs that we will return to such a conversation.”
Credit: Reuters
