Russian foreign minister: Delivery of F-16 jets to Ukraine a “deliberate” signal that NATO is pushing for nuclear war
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has warned of the nuclear threat against Moscow posed by F-16 fighter jetsdelivered to Ukraine.He issued this remark during an interview with the state-owned media group Rossiya Segodnya, which was published on May 30. According to him, Moscow will perceive deliveries of the F-16s to Kyiv as a "deliberate" signal that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is "ready for anything" – including the possibility of nuclear war.
"We cannot help but consider the supply of these systems to the Kyiv regime as a deliberate signaling action by NATO in the nuclear sphere," Lavrov explained. He added that F-16 fighter jets have long been used as part of the bloc's joint nuclear missions.
"The fourth-generation fighter planes have been at the forefront of Kyiv's demands for military aid from the West, in an effort to challenge Russia's airpower advantage," Russia Today (RT) wrote. "[But Moscow] has warned repeatedly that it would regard the jets [being] sent to Ukraine as a nuclear threat because of their capacity to carry atomic weapons."
Lavrov stressed his view that the West furnishing Ukraine with increasingly destructive weapons indicated the West’s reluctance to end the Ukraine conflict. He also mentioned that Kyiv receiving the F-16s won't change the situation on the battlefield and that these planes would be destroyed like other weapons supplied by NATO countries.
The foreign minister also cautioned the West against nuclear escalation, which could result in "catastrophic consequences." He also expressed hope that Russia's nuclear exercise, conducted jointly with its ally Belarus, will "bring some sense" to NATO. Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a drill earlier this month, which was described as a reaction to hostile statements by the West, to test the country's ability to use non-strategic nuclear weapons.
No comments:
Post a Comment