MOSCOW: The Russian Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday that the idea that Washington should give nuclear weapons to Ukraine is “madness” and that Moscow would go to Ukraine to prevent such a scenario. There is a reason.
The New York Times reported last week that some unnamed Western officials had suggested that US President Joe Biden could give nuclear weapons to Ukraine before he leaves office.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said it was in the interest of all responsible governments to ensure that such a scenario, which she called “suicide,” did not occur.
“We consider it madness,” Zakharova told reporters when asked about the case.
“This is complete madness being imposed on a certain part of the political establishment in Ukraine by Westerners.”
He accused Kiev of using the issue, which he described as propaganda, to try to squeeze more aid from the West.
He warned that “irresponsible actions” by Ukraine and its Western backers could bring the world “to the brink of collapse”.
The Kremlin said on Tuesday that talk in the West about arming Ukraine with nuclear weapons was “absolutely irresponsible”, while senior Russian security official Dmitry Medvedev warned that Moscow would allow such a transfer to Russia. may be regarded as tantamount to an attack, for which grounds will be provided. nuclear reactions.
Ukraine inherited nuclear weapons from the Soviet Union after its collapse in 1991, but gave them up under a 1994 agreement, the Budapest Memorandum, in exchange for security assurances from Russia, the United States and Britain.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly complained that the move leaves his country unprotected, partly because he says it should join the NATO military alliance, which Moscow opposes.