Russia has issued another warning to President Joe Biden and the U.S. after helping Ukraine in the European war.
Vladimir Yermakov, director of the Department for Nonproliferation and Arms Control at Russia’s Foreign Ministry, said in a statement that the risk of nuclear war is “steadily increasing” as the Russia-Ukraine war continues.
“The most acute threat today is associated with the danger of nuclear escalation as a result of a direct military confrontation between nuclear powers,” Yermakov said. “And these risks, to the deepest regret, are steadily growing.”
The nuclear arms reduction treaty between the US and Russia is called the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START). It was signed in April 2010 and replaced the START I treaty, which had already expired in February 2011. The treaty limits the total number of deployed nuclear weapons to 1,550 and the total number of deployed delivery systems to 700 for each nation.
The recent Russian warnings shed light on the escalating hostility between the two countries, which has worsened since Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. Both nations have been building new nuclear weapons and delivery systems as they engage in a new round of arms competition.
Western nations have accused Russia of violating the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, which was signed between the U.S. and the Soviet Union in 1987 to eliminate nuclear and conventional ground-launched ballistic missiles.
This comes as the threat of nuclear war has risen dramatically since Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine in February. In September, he reiterated his threats to use nuclear weapons.
“In the event of a threat to the territorial integrity of our country and to defend Russia and our people, we will certainly make use of all weapon systems available to us. This is not a bluff,” Putin said on Sep. 30.
According to Russia’s nuclear doctrine, a nuclear strike is allowed after “aggression against the Russian Federation with conventional weapons when the very existence of the state is threatened.”
Both countries hold the world’s largest nuclear arsenals, and experts fear that any conflict between the U.S. and Russia could have catastrophic consequences across the globe.
