US and NATO are ‘risking a catastrophic clash of nuclear powers’ with their involvement in the Ukraine war, Russia claims
Involving the US and NATO in the war in Ukraine risks bringing ‘catastrophic consequences’, Russia warned Thursday.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva that ‘the most acute strategic threat is posed now by the US and NATO policy’.
He said the west’s involvement in Ukraine aimed at ‘further fomenting the conflict in and around’ the country.
‘Their growing involvement in an armed confrontation is fraught with a direct military clash of nuclear powers with catastrophic consequences.’
Ryabkov spoke before a largely empty chamber, with many Western diplomats especially opting to symbolically gather for a nearby photo opportunity in front of a mural painted in the blue and yellow of the Ukrainian flag during his scheduled speaking time.
Image shows the launch of an RS-28 Russian Sarmat ballistic missile in April 2022
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov attends the Conference on Disarmament at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland on March 2, 2023
Fire and rescue workers attend a building hit by a missile in central Kyiv on November 23, 2022
The Conference on Disarmament, or CD, is the world’s most foremost multilateral disarmament forum. It was created in 1979 to try to stem the Cold War arms race.
The CD is not a UN body but meets at UN headquarters in Geneva for three sessions each year to discuss arms control and disarmament, with a focus on reining in the nuclear arms race.
But the statements delivered there have become increasingly combative since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine a year ago.
At the opening of the CD session on Monday, US under secretary of state for arms control and international security Bonnie Jenkins criticised Russia’s suspension of participation in New START, the last nuclear arms control pact between Moscow and Washington.
‘Russia is once again showing the world that it is not a responsible nuclear power,’ she said, warning that ‘we now face a dramatically unstable security environment that pulls us away from collective action here.’
Ryabkov insisted Thursday that Russia had no choice but to suspend its participation in the treaty, as ‘a total hybrid war (was) unleashed against us.’
‘At the same time, as it was already stated, we will continue to comply with the quantitative limits on strategic offensive arms,’ he told the CD.
Ryabkov was also expected to address the UN Human Rights Council later Thursday.
Image shows an RS-24 ‘heavy weight’ Yars missile launch by Russia in October 2022
Image shows a mobile Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile in Russia
Ukrainian servicemen of the Prince Roman the Great 14th Separate Mechanized Brigade fire a Soviet era Grad multiple rocket launcher at Russian positions in the Kharkiv area, 25 February
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken delivered a video address to that council Thursday morning, stressing the need for it to extend a high-level war crimes investigation, a so-called Commission of Inquiry, into Russia’s actions in Ukraine.
‘As long as Russia continues to wage its war, the COI should continue to document such abuses, providing an impartial record of what’s occurring, and a foundation for national and international efforts to hold perpetrators accountable,’ he said.
He also hailed that the council has decided to appoint an expert to monitor rights abuses inside Russia.
‘Governments that commit atrocities abroad are also likely to violate the rights of people at home, and that’s exactly what Russia is doing.’
