Russia’s Ambassador to the U.S., Anatoly Antonov spoke with Newsweek in a May 5 article by Tim O’Connor, in which he forcefully stated Russia’s current policy, especially on the question of avoiding nuclear war. (https://www.newsweek.com/russia-ambassador-us-says-nato-not-taking-nuclear-war-threat-seriously-1703968)
“Our country does not threaten the United States and its European allies, but, on the contrary, is making every effort to prevent the escalation of the Ukrainian crisis,” he told Newsweek as quoted in coverage by TASS. “We are compelled to warn of the emerging risks associated with the intervention of NATO states into the Russian special military operation.”
“The current generation of NATO politicians clearly does not take the nuclear threat seriously.”
He countered that “the Soviet and American leaders who went through the Second World War and knew from personal experience what the blood and torment of millions of people are.”
Newsweek then said that he quoted two such leaders who had carried the world through the Cuban Missile Crisis. “We are in a dire need of military intellectuals,” Antonov quoted Marshal Rodion Malinovsky, whom TASS identifies as the Soviet defense minister in 1957-1967. “Not just highly educated officers, but people who have mastered advanced culture of heart and spirit, a humanistic outlook. Modern weapons of such destructive power cannot be entrusted to a skillful person who has only a firm grip. To wield it one needs a clear head capable of foreseeing consequences as well as a sensible heart. That is a mighty moral instinct.”
Antonov went on to cite U.S. President John Kennedy, who, following the end of the Cuban Missile Crisis, said: “If we cannot end now our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity. For, in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children’s future. And we are all mortal.”
Antonov slammed “a flurry of blatant misrepresentation of Russian officials’ statements on our country’s nuclear policy” pointing to remarks by U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Gen. Mark A. Milley, who falsely accused Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov of “nuclear saber-rattling,” in an interview Lavrov made on April 25. Antonov argued that Russian officials “have never stopped our efforts to reach agreements that will guarantee that a catastrophic confrontation will not be unleashed.”
He also asserted that Russia pressed for the inclusion of the “no winners in a nuclear war” principle into the Russian-U.S. statement at the June 16, 2021 summit in Geneva between Presidents Putin and Biden. A similar document was adopted by the five nuclear powers at the United Nations on Jan. 3, 2022, Antonov remarked. He also cited the agreement to extend the New START treaty for five years in February 2021.
While Russia has repeatedly said it is important to continue the joint work on an agreement that could replace New START and accommodate new realities of international security and development of military technologies, “Regrettably, Washington has unilaterally ‘frozen’ the bilateral strategic stability dialogue that was launched at the Geneva summit, thus jeopardizing the prospects of keeping the foundation of arms control in place,” Antonov added. “Russia is ready to resume the consultations as soon as the United States is ready.” (https://tass.com/politics/1447663?utm_source=google.com&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=google.com&utm_referrer=google.com)
