MOSCOW, June 27. /TASS/. Russia believes the West does not fully appreciate how real the threat of a nuclear conflict is amid NATO ratcheting up the rhetoric on this issue, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told the 60 Minutes show on Rossiya-1 TV channel.

"We cannot see that [our adversaries] fully appreciate the seriousness of the situation. <…> Because statements on the nuclear issue are getting louder," Ryabkov said. "People over there who have in recent years made silly and empty accusations against Russia <…> without even stopping to think continue to repeat the same thing," he lamented.

Meanwhile, he continued, "the situation is tenuous, alarming, and, let’s face it, dangerous." "And we can see no end to this escalation rampage from the United States and its NATO satellites," he said as he referred to the continued supplies of the most state-of-the-art weapons to Ukraine.

This, he said, equates to "direct involvement on the part of the United States and its NATO allies in the war on Russia." And this raises the question of whether the nuclear containment system which is available in our country and was formulated in the Military Doctrine is relevant enough, Ryabkov concluded.