Reuters, Thursday 12 May 2022
LONDON (Reuters) — One of President Vladimir Putin’s closest allies warned the West on Thursday that the increasing military support given to Ukraine by The United States and its allies risked triggering a conflict between Russia and the NATO military alliance. Former president Dmitry Medvedev, now deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, said such a conflict with NATO always carried the risk of turning into a full-blown nuclear war. “NATO countries pumping weapons into Ukraine, training troops to use Western equipment, sending in mercenaries and the exercises of Alliance countries near our borders increase the likelihood of a direct and open conflict between NATO and Russia. Such a conflict always has the risk of turning into a full-fledged nuclear war. This will be a disastrous scenario for everyone,” Medvedev said in a Telegram post.
Russia and The United States are by far the world’s biggest nuclear powers: Russia has some 6,257 nuclear warheads while NATO’s three nuclear powers — The United States, The United Kingdom and France — have about 6,065 warheads combined, according to the Washington-based Arms Control Association. Russia’s 24 February invasion of Ukraine has killed thousands of people, laid waste to swathes of its former Soviet neighbour, and raised fears of the gravest confrontation between Russia and The United States since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. Putin says the “special military operation” in Ukraine is necessary because The United States was using Ukraine to threaten Russia. Ukraine says it is fighting an imperial-style land grab and that Putin’s claims of genocide are nonsense.