Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov gave an interview to TASS yesterday in which he made a number of points:
Strategic risks of a direct confrontation between NATO and Russia are growing, which may have catastrophic consequences: Ryabkov highlighted “the escalatory narrative” from European capitals about “the looming threat of a high-intensity war” with Russia. “As a result of this escalation of tensions, including blatantly provocative moves in the nuclear sphere, strategic risks are increasing, as is the danger of a head-on clash between NATO and our country, with potentially catastrophic consequences as a result,” he warned.
Russia cannot overlook NATO’s growing aggregate nuclear capabilities and will take due account of that in its military planning: “We cannot ignore the obvious strengthening of the nuclear component of NATO’s overall capabilities, which is in fact taking place as a result of Europe’s efforts to develop its own nuclear capabilities in addition to the corresponding US ‘nuclear umbrella,’” he said. This “cannot go unaddressed in terms of Russian military planning, in particular, with regard to France’s efforts under its new strategy of the so-called forward nuclear deterrence,” he stressed.
Russia and the West currently lack the military-political foundation necessary for security dialogue, and Western countries must take Moscow’s core interests into account to create such conditions: “The basic political and military-political foundation” for a substantial mutually acceptable dialogue “simply does not exist, and it is impossible to build it unless our Western counterparts are willing to genuinely take Russia’s fundamental interests into account and reliably resolve key contradictions in the security field,” he said.
