Moscow: Atomic conflict should never be fought

UNITED NATIONS, Oct.4, (ST)- Moscow maintains that a war between nuclear-armed countries should never be fought, the top nonproliferation official in the Russian foreign ministry told the UN General Assembly’s First Committee on Tuesday.

“We believe that one of the most important tasks is to maintain adherence by all countries of the ‘nuclear five’ to the postulate that any war between countries possessing nuclear weapons cannot be allowed to happen, which was reflected in the January joint statement of the leaders of nuclear powers. Russia is fully committed to it,” said Vladimir Yermakov, director of the arms control and nonproliferation department at the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The committee, which is in charge of arms control and international security, heard the statement through Konstantin Vorontsov, deputy head of the Russian delegation to the UNGA.

Yermakov’s remarks follow a clarification from the Kremlin that Moscow will only use nuclear weapons based on its official doctrine – meaning, in self-defense from weapons of mass destruction, or where its survival was threatened by conventional means.

“There can be no other considerations here,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday.

In the context of the conflict in Ukraine the United States employs components of civilian space infrastructure for military purposes, but such quasi-civilian infrastructure may become a legitimate target for retaliation, Yermakov said in a statement, made public at a meeting of the First Committee of the UN General Assembly. The statement was read by the department’s deputy chief Konstantin Vorontsov.

“In the course of the events in Ukraine, a new extremely dangerous trend has developed. The United States and its allies are using civilian infrastructure components in space, including commercial ones, for military purposes,” Yermakov said. “Such activities, in fact, are tantamount to indirect participation in armed conflicts, while quasi-civilian infrastructure can become a legitimate target for retaliation. As a result of such actions by the West, the sustainability of peaceful space activities, as well as numerous socio-economic processes on Earth, on which the well-being of people depends, are exposed to undue risks.”

Yesterday, Vorontsov,  said  that the West’s military support for Ukraine risks escalation of the conflict, which may bring about a direct confrontation of nuclear nations with disastrous consequences.

“The West is becoming increasingly more determined to pursue the course of an open confrontation with Russia, which has resulted in the crisis around Ukraine,” the diplomat said.

“Statements about the need to defeat us on the battlefield and strategically, pumping the criminal Kiev regime with weapons, including advanced missile systems, providing intelligence and earmarking military and civilian targets that we defend, the direct involvement of Western advisors and mercenaries in hostilities, leading to the deaths of Russian soldiers and officers as well as civilians – all this brings the West extremely close to becoming a party to an armed conflict with our country,” the diplomat emphasized.

“This is likely to escalate all the way up to a direct military clash of nuclear powers with all the ensuing disastrous consequences,” Vorontsov said. “We consider this policy irresponsible and destructive. It seems that the US and other NATO countries have come to believe that they can fully control the escalation they are triggering and manage it without the damage to themselves. This is an extremely dangerous illusion,” Vorontsov stressed.

Compiled by: Basma Qaddour