MOSCOW, May 18. /TASS/. The deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, has entered into an indirect discussion with former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger about what the main threat to humanity is these days.
Medvedev believes that Ukraine's potential admission to NATO is fraught with more danger than a conflict between the United States and China.
"Kissinger calls for Ukraine's admission to NATO," Medvedev wrote on his Telegram account on Thursday. "True, he will turn 100 in 10 days. He met with Brezhnev. However, he is completely wrong here. He argues that a conflict between the United States and China would be the main threat to humanity. I have always thought it is important to take into account direct and obvious threats, rather than hypothetical ones, to correctly assess the situation," Medvedev said.
To illustrate his position, the deputy head of Russia’s Security Council explained in detail why Ukraine’s hypothetical membership in the North Atlantic Alliance is much more dangerous for humankind. He stressed that NATO was already waging a hybrid war on Russia and "the Ukrainian nationalist regime will not give up its attempts to retake the lost territories," which means that Russia "will have to respond to this with all possible means.
"Then you will see Article 5 of the Washington Treaty in action (according to the article, an attack on one of the bloc’s member states is considered aggression against all member-countries of the alliance - TASS)," he warned.
Medvedev stressed that "subtle considerations about preventing existential threats do not work during bloody conflicts."
"This should be clear even to those approaching their centennial," he added.
In an interview published on Wednesday in The Economist, Kissinger opined that Ukraine should be admitted to NATO because this, he argues, would be in the interests of both Kiev and Moscow and serve as a safeguard against future attempts by the Ukrainian leadership to resolve territorial disputes militarily. In fact, Kissinger has changed his viewpoint on Ukraine's membership in the North Atlantic Alliance. He explained he is in favor of avoiding a situation in which Ukraine would become a non-aligned neutral state. At the same time, Kissinger says that the US and China are the main threat to peace and the very survival of the human race, as they have set a course towards a conflict with each other and must recognize this fact.