Russian Deputy Minister Says Threat of Nuclear War Is at Its Highest Point in Recent Decades

Russian Ambassador to the U.N. Gennady Gatilov (L) and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov (R) attend the Human Rights Council at the United Nations in Geneva, on March 2, 2023. (Denis Balibouse/Reuters)

On Wednesday, a high-ranking Russian official said that the threat of nuclear war is higher now than in “the past few decades.”

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov commented in an event titled “A World Without START,” as Russia sees itself in a de facto open conflict with the United States.

Relations between Russia and the United States, long strained, have worsened since Russia invaded Ukraine last year. In February, Moscow withdrew the New START nuclear arms reduction treaty with Washington.

Ryabkov said there was “no question” of Russia reentering the treaty, criticizing what he called Washington’s “hostile course” toward Moscow.

“I wouldn’t want to dive into a discussion about whether the likelihood of a nuclear conflict is high today, but it is higher than anything we have had for the past few decades, let’s put it that way,” the Interfax news agency quoted him as saying.

Ryabkov said Russia was committed to keeping the world “safe and free” from the threat of nuclear war but added later that Moscow was now “in a de facto state of open conflict with the United States.”

The Kremlin has repeatedly accused Washington of participating in the Ukraine war by providing weapons to Kyiv while casting the war as a battle for Russia’s survival.

The United States and Russia—by far the world’s most significant nuclear powers—have said that a nuclear war can never be won and must never be fought. Still, the conflict in Ukraine has raised fears of a confrontation between Russia and the West.

Meanwhile, Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy secretary of Russia’s Security Council chaired by Putin, warned on Thursday about the rising threat of a nuclear war.

Medvedev said in video remarks to reporters that Russia’s relations with the West have hit an all-time low.

Asked whether the threat of a nuclear conflict has eased, Medvedev responded: “No, it hasn’t decreased; it has grown. Every day when [sic] they provide Ukraine with foreign weapons brings the nuclear apocalypse closer.”

He has issued a barrage of such strongly-worded statements in the past, blasting the United States and its NATO allies for what he described as their efforts to break up and destroy Russia. It’s been a drastic metamorphosis for the gentle-looking politician, who once was hailed by the West as a liberal hope.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.