Moscow, May 19 (IANS) Russia will take the strengthening of NATO’s overall nuclear potential into account in its military planning, the country’s Deputy Foreign Minister said on Tuesday.
“We cannot ignore the obvious strengthening of the nuclear component of NATO’s overall potential, which is in fact occurring as a result of Europe’s efforts to develop its own nuclear capabilities in addition to the US’s corresponding ‘umbrella,'” Sergei Ryabkov, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister, was quoted as saying by Russia’s leading Tass news agency during an interview with local media.
He also said that the strategic risks of a “head-on clash” between NATO and Russia are increasing, and its consequences would be catastrophic.
Ryabkov also noted that the “escalatory narrative” of European capitals about the looming threat of high-intensity war with Russia.
“As a result of this escalation of tensions, including openly provocative actions in the nuclear sphere, strategic risks and the danger of a head-on clash between NATO and our country, with all the ensuing potentially catastrophic consequences, are increasing,” the deputy minister emphasised.
He stressed that Russia cannot remain without reactions in military planning, especially regarding France’s efforts within the framework of the new strategy of “so-called” forward nuclear deterrence.
“Under Paris’s false slogans about strengthening the security of its non-nuclear allies, the exact opposite is happening,” Ryabkov continued. “As a result of France’s expansion of the operational zone of its national nuclear forces into the territory of these European countries, they are becoming the object of closer scrutiny by our military, responsible for ensuring strategic deterrence.”
He also commented on Finland’s intention to allow the import of nuclear weapons, and plans of France and Poland to conduct exercises in the Baltic Sea to practice nuclear strikes against Russia.
“Russia has clearly and unequivocally stated its extremely negative attitude toward such preparations on the part of Europeans. These steps are accompanied by hostile anti-Russian rhetoric and are part of a general process of accelerated militarisation of Europe, openly directed against our country,” he said.
–IANS
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