POSSESSION OF NUCLEAR ARMS IS RESPONSE TO THREATS, RUSSIA’S LAVROV SAYS

Sat 19 August 2023:

Having nuclear weapons shields Russia from security challenges, and Moscow regularly warns the West about the dangers to avert a nuclear war, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

“The possession of nuclear arms is today the only possible response to some of significant external threats to security of our country,” Lavrov said in an interview for state-owned magazine The International Affairs, published early on Saturday on the foreign ministry website.

When asked about the viability of a position taken by a number of politicians that it’s up to Russia and the US to agree on a way to end the conflict in Ukraine, Russia’s top diplomat pointed out that “such logic implies that Ukraine is an American puppet and all issues should be resolved with the Americans.”

“The problem, however, is that the US has no intention of ending the conflict. As I have already said, its officially declared goal is to inflict ‘a strategic defeat’ on Russia, and weaken us as much as possible in military, economic and political terms. This is why Washington keeps saying that talks on resolving the issue should be held only on the Ukrainians’ terms, that is, based on Vladimir Zelensky’s notorious ‘peace formula’,” the foreign minister stressed.

Lavrov noted that it was “a pointless categorical position.” “We can’t be expected to agree that our core security interests will be infringed on and Russian and Russian-speaking people in our new territories and areas controlled by the Ukrainian armed forces will continue to face arbitrariness,” Lavrov went on to say. “Another thing the West needs to realize is that Russia will defend its people and its vital interests by all means. It’s best if our opponents realize as soon as possible that a confrontation with Russia will lead to nothing, and move to adopt more civilized, political and diplomatic methods to ensure a balance of interests,” he added.