MOSCOW, December 5. /TASS/. Moscow is determined to prevent the scenario of Kiev acquiring nuclear weapons, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.
"Moscow is firmly determined to prevent any of these scenarios. The Kiev regime acquiring nuclear weapons is completely unacceptable to our country," she noted in a statement dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the Budapest Memorandum.
Zakharova pointed to alarming statements by Kiev officials, "which not only question the viability of the Budapest Memorandum but could also be interpreted as an outright attempt to review Ukraine's non-nuclear status." "Such a destabilizing move would contradict Ukraine’s obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), blatantly undermining the nuclear non-proliferation regime and creating unacceptable risks to international security," the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman stressed.
"As Western countries make belligerent statements, take extremely hostile actions against Russia, and continue fueling the confrontation they started in the Ukraine crisis, we must warn of the risk of a direct military clash between nuclear powers, which could potentially have very severe consequences, and send sobering messages to support such warnings," Zakharova pointed out. "Russia does not threaten to use nuclear weapons against anyone, and any statements claiming otherwise are nothing but deliberate lies aimed at Moscow. We conduct our nuclear deterrence policy in the most serious and responsible manner," she concluded.