The US-led collective West could cause a potentially catastrophic war between global nuclear powers due to its openly hostile stance toward Russia and efforts to undermine existing arms control agreements, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday.
Addressing the Moscow Nonproliferation Conference organized by the Centre for Energy and Security Studies, Lavrov noted that the globe is in a state of crisis with regard to mechanisms for arms control, disarmament, and nonproliferation and that this jeopardizes international security. He placed the blame for this on Washington, which, according to the diplomat, has been “cynically combining the deliberate destruction of balanced and equal [arms control] agreements” with “blatantly dishonest schemes” that are advantageous solely to the US.
Lavrov explained that the US and allies were responsible for blocking the recent review cycles of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), which, Lavrov says Washington long used to pressure its foes. He also noted the potential danger posed by the three-way AUKUS agreement between the US, UK and Australia, which is becoming “increasingly similar to a military bloc,” as well as NATO, which has been boosting its military spending.
According to the senior official, the West’s support for Ukraine is also fraught with danger, especially as the three major Western nuclear powers, the US, UK and France, are among the main sponsors of the “criminal Kiev regime” and the “main organizers” of provocations against Russia.
The US and Russia hold nearly 90% of the world’s nuclear warheads, according to the US-based Arms Control Association. Last year, Russia suspended its participation in the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, known as ‘New START’, the last remaining nuclear agreement between the US and Russia that caps arsenals. Russia cited US involvement in the Ukraine conflict as the primary cause for the suspension. Washington has since appealed to Moscow to renew dialogue on the treaty, but the latter has said that doing so is impossible as long as the US continues to support Kiev.
In his address, Lavrov reiterated this stance, saying that he saw “no basis whatsoever” for an arms control dialogue with the US “in the face of a total hybrid war being waged against our country.”
