Russia’s leader in charge of nuclear nonproliferation, Vladimir Yermakov, said on Saturday (30th) that negotiations between his government and the United States were frozen. The information comes from the Russian news agency Tass.
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According to him, contacts between the Americans and Russians will resume only after the war in Ukraine, which Russia calls a “special military operation.”
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1 of 1 Nuclear Radiation Badge — Photo: REUTERS TV
Nuclear radiation plate — Photo: REUTERS TV
Yermakov said the Russian government believes the US wants to complete short and mediumrange missile storage projects in Europe and Asia. The Russian head of state did not provide any evidence that could support this thesis.
“The emergence of these weapons in these regions will exacerbate the situation and fuel an arms race,” he said.
The US does not believe in a nuclear threat
Russia is testing new nuclearcapable ICBMs
The US does not believe there is a threat that Russia will use nuclear weapons, despite a recent escalation in Moscow’s rhetoric, a US defense official said on Friday.
On condition of anonymity, he said that the Americans monitor Russian nuclear capabilities to the best of their ability every day and assess that there is no threat from the use of these weapons and no threat to the territory of the NATO countries.
On Monday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the West should not underestimate the heightened risks of a nuclear conflict stemming from the war in Ukraine.
Russia said earlier this month that it plans to deploy newly tested Sarmat ICBMs capable of delivering nuclear strikes against the United States by June.
Western concerns about the risk of nuclear war mounted after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24 with a speech in which he made explicit reference to Moscow’s nuclear forces and warned that any attempt standing in the way of Russia “never leads to consequences is seen in history.”
Earlier this month, CIA Director William Burns said Russia’s threat that it might use weak or tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine could not be ignored, but the CIA doesn’t see much practical evidence to back up those concerns.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine left thousands dead or injured, reduced villages and towns to rubble and forced more than 5 million people to flee abroad.