Russia warns of the danger of direct confrontation with the United States

MOSCOW-(ST)- Risks of direct military confrontation between the two nuclear powers – Russia and the US – are growing constantly, says Head of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Non-Proliferation and Arms Control Department Vladimir Yermakov.

“If the United States continues to follow its current course of confrontation with Russia, with the stakes constantly escalating on the verge of sliding into direct armed conflict, then the fate of START (nuclear arms treaty) may be a foregone conclusion,” Yermakov said, according to Tass news agency.

“However, in the worst-case scenario, i.e. if Washington drives the situation to a military clash between the strongest nuclear powers, then it is not the fate of the New START but the fate of the entire world that will be a concern.”

“This once again confirms that the most pressing threat today is connected not with the dynamic of stimuli for the first massive strike, which is supposed to be curbed by agreements like the New START, but with a danger of nuclear escalation as a result of a direct military confrontation between nuclear powers,” Yermakov explained. “And, to our deepest regrets, these risks keep growing.”

For his part, the Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov condemned the US stance, represented in preventing the Russian embassy from commemorating the anniversary of WWII heroes.

Antonov said: “It is becoming increasingly difficult for Russia to communicate with the United States about the importance of preserving the memory of the heroics and heroes of World War II, as the Russian embassy and Russian diplomats are being prevented for the second year in a row from holding a traditional wreath-laying ceremony at the memorial plaque “Meeting on the Elbe,” which referrers to the meeting of Soviet and American soldiers at the Elbe River in Trugau, Germany, as well as a visit to Fort Richardson National Cemetery in Anchorage, where many Soviet war pilots are buried.

Antonov considered that this position is an insult not only to the veterans of the two countries, but to everyone who remembers their great achievement.

Nada Haj Khidr