Russia has said preventing a military confrontation between nuclear powers is its “top priority” and, although it has recently made such threats, has urged other countries with such weapons to reaffirm their commitment to avoiding nuclear war.
On Wednesday, the State Department “reaffirmed” Moscow’s commitment to avoiding nuclear war and an arms race in a joint statement signed in January with the United States, Britain, France and China.
With the Ukrainian war dragging on for eight months and Russian action showing signs of faltering, President Vladimir Putin has again issued veiled threats to use nuclear weapons. All of this is part of a strategy that Western officials say is aimed at preventing Western military aid to Kyiv.
The rhetoric has alarmed Western powers, particularly after Russia made unfounded claims last week that Ukraine was developing a “dirty bomb” a conventional weapon laced with radioactive material. Putin repeated the warnings but later said that it made “neither military nor political sense” for Russia to use a nuclear weapon against Ukraine.
“We firmly believe that in the current difficult and turbulent situation, which is a consequence of irresponsible and outrageous actions aimed at undermining our national security, avoiding a military confrontation between nuclear powers is a top priority,” the State Department said on Wednesday .
In London, Defense Secretary Ben Wallace reiterated that the claim that Ukraine was developing a “dirty bomb” was dead wrong, saying Britain, along with the US and France, felt “absolutely committed to upholding the taboo” on the use of nuclear weapons .
“Russia’s claims about the preparation of a tactical nuclear weapon being supported by Ukraine or indeed by the UK or any other power are neither accurate nor true,” Wallace told the House of Commons Defense Committee. “It would be abhorrent, against international law and totally unjustified. We have no intention of doing anything other than telling the truth about it.”
Western officials have intensified monitoring of Russia’s nuclear readiness in recent months but have reported no changes. Ukraine said Moscow’s rhetoric was likely a bluff aimed at convincing its Western backers to pressure Kyiv to accept an unfavorable peace deal on Moscow’s terms. Ukrainian forces are advancing on the southern city of Kherson, the only provincial capital Russia has captured during the invasion Putin claimed it as part of the country in a blownup annexation ceremony in late September.
Despite Russia’s promise to use “all means at its disposal” to defend areas it considers part of Russia, Ukraine has continued to push back rival forces, confirming the belief of some officials that Moscow will not carry out its threats. One of them, speaking on condition of anonymity, said he hopes Moscow will focus on ending the war without trying to divert attention from the conflict to irrelevant issues efforts that the source says have met with little success so far had.
The Russian Foreign Ministry statement contained an implicit rebuke to Western powers for supplying Ukraine with advanced weapons, which Moscow says increases the risk of a direct conflict between the country’s armed forces and NATO.
In apparent reference to the “dirty bomb” allegations, the panel called on Kiev supporters to “demonstrate their willingness to address this priority and abandon dangerous attempts to undermine their vital interests, to balance on the line of direct armed conflict and provocations use weapons to promote mass destruction that can have catastrophic results”.
The State Department said Russia’s military doctrine permits the use of nuclear weapons if the country is first hit by a nuclear strike or if “the very existence of the state” is threatened by a conventional attack.
Translated by Luiz Roberto M. Gonçalves