Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov today publicly stated that Russia will view the deployment of F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine as a direct nuclear threat.
Lavrov said Russia has privately warned the US, Britain, and France of the dire risks of the planned move to give Kyiv the advanced warplanes. He made clear that the use of F-16 - for which Ukrainian pilots are now being trained - was 'just one more example of an extremely dangerous turn of events.
'We have informed the nuclear powers, the United States, Britain and France, that Russia cannot ignore the ability of these aircraft to carry nuclear weapons. 'No amount of assurances will help here.'
'In the course of combat operations, our servicemen are not going to sort out whether each particular aircraft of this type is equipped to deliver nuclear weapons or not. We will regard the very fact that the Ukrainian armed forces have such systems as a threat from the West in the nuclear sphere.' he continued.
He warned: 'The United States and its NATO satellites are creating risks of a direct armed clash with Russia, and this is fraught with catastrophic consequences.' The ultra-loyalist chief diplomat said: 'The conditions for Russia's use of nuclear weapons are clearly defined in our Military Doctrine. 'They are well known, and I will not repeat them once again.'
