MOSCOW, March 22. /TASS/. The risk of a nuclear conflict is now at a record-high over decades, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said during a discussion entitled A World without START: What’s Next? on the platform of the Valdai discussion club.

"I would not like to indulge in a discussion whether the probability of a nuclear conflict is high today, but in any case it is higher than anything that we have seen over the past decades, let's put it this way," he said.

Ryabkov stressed that Moscow does not depart "from the key provisions, doctrinal and political ones" confirming its commitment to the idea the world must be safe and free from the nuclear threat.

"But, of course, non-nuclear states, especially those which are not affiliated with US-led groups and are not inclined to assent to Washington on all issues, these states could assert state their stance more loudly to call to order politicians in the Western capitals, including Washington, who have absolutely lost their sense of reality," Ryabkov added.