Russia’s defence minister Sergei Shoigu has issued an accusation and a warning to the West. At a defence forum in Beijing on Monday 30 October, Shoigu took a dig at the US and NATO, according to Russian state media. He reportedly claimed that these Western powers continue to 'try to undermine Russia's security and deprive us of the will to resist’.
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He allegedly claimed that the West are trying to expand and escalate the war in Ukraine, accusing it of trying to ensure a ‘strategic defeat of Russia’. This came alongside a threat for the West, which comes at a time when nuclear war seems like a real possibility. Here’s everything you need to know.
What Sergei Shoigu said about nuclear war
At the Xiangshan Security Forum in China, Shoigu claimed that Western powers are expanding Russia’s war against Ukraine to the Asia-Pacific under the pretence of an ‘ostentatious desire for dialogue’. He reportedly stated that NATO countries are upping their military presence in this region, and showed that Russia would not accept such behaviour.
According to Russian state agency TASS, Shoigu made the following terrifying statement:
The Western line of steady escalation of the conflict with Russia carries the threat of a direct military clash between nuclear powers.
He went on to emphasise that such clashes would have ‘catastrophic consequences’. His words are particularly concerning given Russia’s current position when it comes to nuclear weapons and testing.
Russia’s stance on nuclear weapons
Russia has decided to withdraw from the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban. Thisis an international treaty aimed at banning all nuclear test explosions. It was opened for signature in 1996 and has been signed by 185 countries, including all the nuclear-armed states. However, certain key states have not yet ratified it... Indeed, Moscow’s reason for this is reportedly to reinstate ‘parity with the United States, which has not ratified this treaty’.
The withdrawal took place on 25 October and was followed - on the very same day - by an announcement regarding Russia’s nuclear weapons. According to the Kremlin press service, the country successfully carried out a large-scale retaliatory nuclear strike test. At the time, the BBC reported that Shoigu said the exercise involved delivering a ‘response to an enemy nuclear strike’.
This sheds these new comments in a very grim light. Amid wild rumours that Putin is dead and his body is being kept in a freezer, Russia continues to make these threats in attempt to assert its dominance as a powerful country on the global stage.
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Sources used:
Newsweek: Russia Warns China of 'Catastrophic' Nuclear Escalation Threat
BBC: Russia says it rehearsed 'massive' nuclear strike
The Kyiv Independent: Russia says it practiced large-scale nuclear strike
Reuters: Russia's Shoigu warns West of 'direct military clash between nuclear powers'
