MOSCOW, December 27. /TASS/. West’s political course, which is aimed at the total restraint of Russia, is extremely dangerous and poses risks of direct armed clash between nuclear powers, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with TASS.

According to him, the West is ceaselessly hyping "with irresponsible speculations that Russia is allegedly on the brink of using nuclear weapons against Ukraine."

"We are speaking about absolutely different matters here - the political course of the West, which is aimed at the total restraint of Russia, is extremely dangerous. It bears downside risks of a direct armed clash of nuclear powers," Lavrov said.

The Russian foreign minister stressed that Moscow had been stating over and over again that there can be no winners in a nuclear war and "it must be never unleashed."

At the same time, Lavrov continued, Western politicians keep pushing further with their rhetoric on this issue and it is them to be asked whether such tendency should maintain in 2023.

"We are deeply concerned to state the fact of the propagandistic mayhem rhetoric in the United States and in the West in general regarding the nuclear weapons issue," the minister stressed.

Lavrov said that by speaking about a possible use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine, Western officials refer to "some unverified quotes coming from the Russian political administration. However, there were really no such statements made."

Russia’s special military operation

On February 21, President Vladimir Putin announced that Moscow was recognizing the sovereignty of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics. Russia signed agreements on friendship, cooperation and mutual assistance with their leaders. Moscow recognized the Donbass republics in accordance with the DPR and LPR constitutions within the boundaries of the Donetsk and Lugansk Regions as of the beginning of 2014.

Russian President Putin announced on February 24 that in response to a request by the heads of the Donbass republics for assistance, he had decided to carry out a special military operation in Ukraine. The DPR and the LPR launched an operation to liberate their territories under Kiev’s control.

From September 23 to September 27, the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Lugansk People’s Republic as well as the Kherson Region and the Zaporozhye Region held a referendum where the majority of voters opted to join Russia.

On September 30, Russian President Vladimir Putin and the heads of the DPR, the LPR, and the Zaporozhye and Kherson Regions signed treaties on their accession to Russia. Later, the State Duma and the Federation Council (the lower and upper houses of Russia’s parliament) approved legislation on ratifying these treaties, as well as federal constitutional laws on the accession of the four regions to Russia.