UNITED NATIONS, April 25. /TASS/. The West began talking about a Third World War long before Russia had anything to say about it, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday.

He noted that some politicians "are stirring up panic about a Third World War." In this context, he recalled corresponding statements by US President Joe Biden and other Western politicians, in particular former UK Prime Minister Liz Truss and former French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian. "These statements were made at a time when we were silent about a Third World War," he told a news conference after his visit to New York as part of Russia’s presidency in the UN Security Council.

He recalled that Russia has invited the United States to "reiterate publicly, officially, at the top level, [Mikhail] Gorbachev and [Ronald] Reagan’s statement that Russia and the United States - the Soviet Union back then and the United States - are convinced that there can be no winners in a nuclear war and that such a war must never be unleashed."

"We proposed to do that under Donald Trump again. Nothing came of it," he said, adding that the Americans were willing to discuss this statement only with reservations, "which, naturally, devalued it completely."

Later, under Biden, Russia and the United States finally made this statement, he recalled. "Later, we came out with this initiative again and a similar statement on the inadmissibility of nuclear war was adopted at the top level by all five official nuclear powers," Lavrov said.

The leaders of Russia, China, the United States, France, and the United Kingdom signed a joint statement on averting nuclear war and preventing an arms race.

According to the document, the nuclear powers consider it their primary responsibility to prevent wars between countries possessing nuclear weapons and to reduce strategic risks.

Lavrov, speaking at a news conference to sum up his visit to New York, which was part of Russia’s presidency in the UN Security Council, called attention to statements by the West that, if Ukraine is defeated, it would be impossible to avoid a Third World War.

"I hope in general that those who make them [the statements] keep a cool head and act responsibly," the minister said.

He also said that "whenever this subject is brought up, everyone immediately points the finger at Russia, [suggesting] that Russia is pushing the world toward a Third World War."

"Everyone talks of his own sores," Lavrov said.