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Lavrov cautions about conventional conflicts escalating into nuclear war

According to the foreign minister, Moscow is watching the rhetoric of the West with alarm, as Russia is accused of preparing some provocations using weapons of mass destruction

MOSCOW, December 1. /TASS/. The risk that a non-nuclear clash between nuclear powers will escalate into a nuclear war is huge, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told a press conference on European security issues on Thursday.

"We have a joint statement by the presidents [of Russia and the US] of June 2021 that a nuclear war cannot be won by anyone, so it shouldn’t be started. There is a similar statement by the five nuclear-weapon states, and we, as I have already said, were ready to go further and say that not only should nuclear war not be waged, but any war between nuclear powers is unacceptable either. Even if someone plans to start it by conventional means, the risk of escalation into a nuclear war will be enormous," he cautioned.

According to Lavrov, Moscow is watching the rhetoric of the West with alarm, as Russia is accused of preparing some provocations using weapons of mass destruction.

"But the West itself, including the US, the UK, and France, is doing everything to step up its almost direct participation in the conflict that they are waging against Russia by using the Ukrainians. This is a dangerous trend," the minister said.

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