Russia is moving closer to NUCLEAR conflict with the US, Moscow warns

Russia is moving closer to a nuclear conflict with the United States over Washington’s support for Ukraine, Moscow warned.

Vladimir Yermakov, the State Department’s chief of nuclear nonproliferation, told the TASS news agency that Washington is adding to the risks through its behavior with the Kremlin – the latest in a series of threats from top Russian officials.

He said the risks of a direct military confrontation between the two nuclear powers are steadily rising as he suggested to Russia’s state news agency that Russia could withdraw from an intermediate- and shorter-range nuclear missile treaty.

Since the beginning of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine 14 months ago, Moscow has regularly issued accusations against the US and what the “collective West” calls for raising the risks of nuclear war, rhetoric designed to dissuade Kiev’s allies. to startle.

If the United States continues on its current course of confrontation with Russia, with the stakes continuing to escalate and poised to slide into direct armed conflict, the fate of START may be a foregone conclusion. said Yermakov. .

The US told Russia in March it will stop sharing certain data about its nuclear forces after Moscow’s refusal to do so, calling it a response to Russia’s suspension of participation in the New START treaty.

The treaty required both Russia and the US to commit to regular communications about the status of their nuclear arsenals, allow regular on-site inspections, and adhere to limits on the number of deployed and non-deployed warheads each would retain.

With a reported 5,977 nuclear warheads, Russia has the world’s largest nuclear arsenal – inherited from the Soviet Union – and was subject to constant inspections and control by the US, which ranks second, until the COVID pandemic.

Suspension of the treaty has led to fears of a nuclear arms race between the world’s nuclear-armed superpowers.

Yermakov gave no details about the alleged confrontational approach of the US in the TASS interview excerpts published so far.

“Today’s most acute threat is related to … the danger of nuclear escalation resulting from a direct military confrontation between nuclear powers,” Yermakov said.

“And these risks are steadily increasing, much to our regret.”

Moscow and Beijing will assess the possible involvement of the West in the global expansion of the US anti-missile defense system, which “clearly undermines strategic stability,” he added.

He said Moscow will evaluate the range of American-made missiles that, he said, are capable of reaching the Asia-Pacific region.

“Even now, however, we can say with confidence that the destabilizing military programs of the US and its allies are making our moratorium increasingly fragile — in the Asia-Pacific region as well as in Europe,” Yermakov said.

Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has plunged Moscow’s relationship with the US and other NATO countries to their lowest level since the Cold War, raising fears of a direct conflict between Russia and NATO that would stretch Ukraine’s borders. could skip.

The United States has been Ukraine’s largest financier, pledging more than $70 billion in aid from Kiev, of which $43 billion has gone to the military.

The military aid included the delivery of HIMARS missile launchers, which have been credited with dramatically changing the trajectory of the war – with Ukrainian forces using them in their lightning counter-offensives last summer.

Several HIMARS launches have struck deep behind enemy lines, with one attack on what was believed to be a military barracks killing dozens of Russian soldiers on New Year’s Eve. Ukraine claimed it killed about 400 Russian troops in the attack.

The US has also pledged to supply its state-of-the-art M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine, saying on Friday it would soon begin training Kiev’s troops to use them in combat.

US-made Patriot missiles also arrived in Ukraine last week, and military spokesman Yuriy Ihnat said on Ukrainian television on Sunday that some have already been deployed.

Russia has accused the US of waging a proxy war in Ukraine, while Washington has said it supports a sovereign nation in its fight against an aggressor.

On Monday, Russian-appointed authorities in Crimea said the army repelled a Ukrainian attack on a key naval base, while an exploding drone was also reportedly found in a forest near Moscow.

The attacks came as Ukraine prepared for a major counter-offensive.

The attack was the latest in a series of attacks on Sevastopol, the main naval base in Crimea that Russia illegally annexed in 2014.

Ukrainian authorities did not immediately comment on Monday’s strikes.

After previous attacks on Sevastopol and other areas, Ukrainian officials stopped openly claiming responsibility, instead emphasizing the country’s right to attack any target in response to Russian aggression.

Russian news reports also claimed on Monday that a Ukrainian exploding drone was found in a forest in a forest about 18 miles east of the Russian capital.

While it did not explode, the incident again underlined Ukraine’s ability to reach deep into Russia as the Ukrainian military prepares for a spring counter-offensive to reclaim occupied territories.

Observers believe that the most likely target of the counter-offensive will be the Russian-held parts of the southern regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. If the push is successful, Ukraine could cut the land corridor between Russia and Crimea.

According to the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, Ukrainian troops have recently gained a foothold in what could be preparations for such a move.