Russia vows to ‘use all means’ to defend itself against the US amid nuclear exercises

This was stated by Russia’s top diplomat in the United States Newsweek that his country had been forced to carry out rapid nuclear exercises after what Moscow saw as a series of destabilizing steps taken by Washington and its allies regarding the ongoing war in Ukraine.

“Training events announced by the Russian Ministry of Defense did not come out of the blue,” Russian Ambassador Anatoly Antonov said. Newsweek. “This is a forced measure in response to the brazen and aggressive policy of the ‘collective West’, which creates unacceptable threats to the security of Russia and its citizens.

“The United States and its allies are continuously increasing supplies to Ukraine of lethal weapons intended to kill Russian people and carry out attacks on our territory,” he added. “Step by step they are abandoning their own previously declared ‘self-limitations’ in the hybrid war unleashed against us. Broadly speaking, they are trying to ‘simmer down’ our country.”

The exercises, first announced Monday, would see missile, aviation and naval units of Russia’s Southern Military Command “practice the preparation and use of non-strategic nuclear weapons,” the Russian Defense Ministry said.

While such maneuvers have been considered routine in the past, this is the first exercise to be conducted since Russia began its war in Ukraine on February 22, 2022. response to provocative statements and threats made by individual Western officials against the Russian Federation.”

“We are not threatening anyone,” Antonov said. “However, the strategists in Washington, who have gone off the rails, as well as its satellites in Europe, must understand that in the accelerated rise of interests, Russia will use all means to protect its sovereignty and territorial integrity. The West will not succeed in the one-sided escalation game it is trying to play.”

Tensions between Russia and the US-led NATO military alliance have risen significantly since the outbreak of war in Ukraine. The White House has accused the Kremlin of waging a war of aggression against its neighbor, while Moscow has accused Washington and its allies of seeking to use Kiev to further expand NATO’s presence along Russia’s borders.

With the conflict largely at a stalemate for more than a year and recent Russian advances along key axes, the US and other Western supporters have expanded military aid to Ukraine.

A Russian Foreign Ministry statement on the recent nuclear exercises specifically noted the presence of US-supplied MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) and “British and French long-range missile systems” on the battlefield. It also cited statements from British Foreign Secretary David Cameron, who suggested that Western weapons could be used to attack Russian territory, and French President Emmanuel Macron, who has repeatedly discussed the possibility of sending troops to Ukraine .

The Russian Foreign Ministry targeted US-built F-16s that would also be sent to Ukraine, arguing that Moscow “will consider them as carriers of nuclear weapons and this move by the United States and NATO as a deliberate will consider provocation.”

“These and some other actions of the member states of the North Atlantic bloc actually indicate that they are deliberately leading to a further escalation of the Ukrainian crisis towards an open military clash between the NATO countries and Russia as part of the implementation of a hostile course to inflict a ‘strategic defeat’ on our country,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

Meanwhile, the ministry expressed “hope” that the nuclear exercises will “cool down the ‘hotheads’ in Western capitals, help them realize the possible catastrophic consequences of the strategic risks they generate, and deter them from attacking the regime in Kiev to assist in his terrorist actions. and not to become involved in a direct armed confrontation with Russia.”

But news of the exercises drew criticism in Washington, where US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller stated that “Russian rhetoric – their nuclear rhetoric – has been reckless and irresponsible throughout this conflict.”

“That said,” he told reporters, “we have not seen any reason to adjust our own nuclear posture in response to these announcements, nor any indication that Russia is preparing to use a nuclear weapon in Ukraine.”

Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder of the Air Force criticized the announcement during a news conference Monday, calling it “an example of the kind of irresponsible rhetoric we’ve seen from Russia in the past.”

“It is completely inappropriate given the current security situation,” Ryder said. “And you know, we haven’t seen any change in their strategic force posture. Of course we will continue to monitor. But it’s just, yeah, irresponsible rhetoric.”