United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in March: “The prospect of nuclear conflict, once unthinkable, is now back within the realm of possibility.”
By REUTERS
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin walks past a TV camera during a parade marking Navy Day in Saint Petersburg, Russia July 31, 2022. (photo credit: REUTERS/MAXIM SHEMETOV)
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday there could be no winners in a nuclear war and no such war should ever be started.
Putin made the comment in a letter to participants of a conference on the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT), more than five months into his war on Ukraine.
“We proceed from the fact that there can be no winners in a nuclear war and it should never be unleashed, and we stand for equal and indivisible security for all members of the world community,” he said.
“We proceed from the fact that there can be no winners in a nuclear war and it should never be unleashed, and we stand for equal and indivisible security for all members of the world community”
Russian President Vladimir Putin
International concern about the risk of a nuclear confrontation has heightened since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24. In a speech at the time, Putin pointedly referred to Russia’s nuclear arsenal and warned outside powers against any attempt to interfere.
“Whoever tries to hinder us… should know that Russia’s response will be immediate. And it will lead you to such consequences that you have never encountered in your history,” he said.
Days later, he ordered Russia’s nuclear forces to be put on high alert.
The war in Ukraine has raised geopolitical tensions to levels not seen since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in March: “The prospect of nuclear conflict, once unthinkable, is now back within the realm of possibility.”
Politicians in both Russia and the United States have spoken publicly of the risk of World War Three. CIA director William Burns said in April that given the setbacks Russia had suffered in Ukraine, “none of us can take lightly the threat posed by a potential resort to tactical nuclear weapons or low-yield nuclear weapons.”
Russia, whose military doctrine allows for the use of nuclear weapons in the event of an existential threat to the Russian state, has accused the West of waging a “proxy war” against it by arming Ukraine and imposing sanctions on Moscow.
The prospect of nuclear conflict, once unthinkable, is now back within the realm of possibility”
Antonio Guterres, United Nations Secretary-General
Earlier on Monday, a Russian foreign ministry source questioned the seriousness of comments by US President Joe Biden calling for talks on a nuclear arms control framework to replace a treaty expiring in 2026.
In April, Russia conducted a first test launch of its new Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile, capable of mounting nuclear strikes against the United States, and said it planned to deploy the weapons by autumn.
Urging the nuclear states to act “responsibly”
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Monday urged all nuclear states to conduct themselves “responsibly” in non-proliferation efforts at a time when he said the road to a world without nuclear arms had become much more difficult.
Kishida, the leader of the only nation to have suffered wartime nuclear attacks, warned that global divisions were deepening, particularly since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with Putin at the start of the conflict obliquely raising the possibility of a nuclear strike.
North Korea, which has carried out numerous missile tests this year, is also believed to be preparing for a nuclear test.