MOSCOW, October 6. /TASS/. Washington and other Western capitals may be interested in escalating tensions over hypothetical use of nuclear weapons to eventually put the blame on Moscow, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told a news briefing on Thursday.
"One has an impression that Washington and other Western capitals may be interested in a dangerous escalation that can be blamed on our country. This is being done within the framework of Washington's policy, harmful to international security and strategic stability, of securing global dominance at any cost regardless of the risks of provoking a direct armed clash between the largest nuclear powers, which would be fraught, as we all understand, with catastrophic consequences," she said.
Zakharova stressed that such a march of events must be prevented by all means.
"We do not intend to participate in this terrible discourse, in this escalation of nuclear rhetoric, with tensions climbing up point by point each time. But this is being done precisely by NATO-centric structures and countries and also those who serve their interests in the information sphere," she said.
She recalled Russia’s firm commitment to the impermissibility of nuclear war.
"We have repeatedly said and confirmed this: there can be no winners in such a war and it should never be unleashed," she said. "I will not read out all the doctrinal documents on this issue once again, because our position has not undergone any changes. There is no false bottom to look for."
Asked who benefited from linking Russia and the nuclear threat and why this was being done, Zakharova said that the Western media were a tool in the hands of Western intelligence services.
"In the context of the crisis over Ukraine, the Western media, following hints by either politicians or secret services, are trying to introduce this ‘nuclear narrative’ into public circulation. Russia is accused of nuclear blackmail and of contemplating the use of nuclear weapons," she added.
"As soon as Russia and its leaders say something, for example, that it will not be the first to use nuclear weapons or firmly adheres to all our basic documents that regulate the field of nuclear weapons and nuclear technologies, the Western media immediately extract the words associated with the position of this or that person and take remarks concerning nuclear weapons and technologies and insert them in their articles, but throw away everything else. In other words, everything is turned inside out," Zakharova said.