The West's underestimation of the possibility Russia may use nuclear weapons may entail fatal consequences, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said at the Primakov Readings forum.
"The current situation, indeed, has no easy solutions and no easy way out. Of course, our Western adversaries' underestimation of Russia's readiness to defend itself and ensure its own interests in any situation is risky. I do not even want to speculate that this underestimation may turn out to be tragic, even fatal," Ryabkov said.
"For now, it is true that those who have made careers in the Western camp, who specialize in provoking, let's say, the elders to take an increasingly tough and, let’s stay, boorish standoff with a nuclear power - these personalities and the ideologists of the West’s total domination in the world - have created an illusion of complete impunity," Ryabkov pointed out. "There are different ways of responding to this. Some are rhetorical, and others, practical."
He is certain that Russia has the resource to convey signals to the West in the sphere of nuclear deterrence even despite its opponents' reluctance to conduct a sober dialogue.
"I believe that we have a resource that allows us to do it, to drive the message home even though the other side lacks the readiness to conduct a clear and sober dialogue, like the one we had in the past," he said. "But there is a danger. It should not be underestimated. One country can make a mistake. We will try to prevent it."
The Primakov Readings forum was first held in 2015. The conference has since acquired the status of an authoritative platform for discussing international relations scenarios, challenges to international security, and new models of interaction by world policy actors. TASS is the forum’s general media partner. [TASS]
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The risks of a direct armed clash between nuclear powers are currently high, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said.
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Ryabkov also said Western opponents deliberately make unacceptable conditions for security talks with Moscow.
"We have come to the conclusion that we need to think about what's next and how to reduce to a minimum the risks of a direct clash. A professional conversation on this issue should be continued. Unfortunately, our opponents officially put forward deliberately unacceptable conditions for such a dialogue," he said.
According to the diplomat, the West is proposing to forget about its hostile policy toward Russia and return to dialogue in those formats, as it was before the current crisis in relations between Russia and the collective West.
"It can’t be like that. I think that the political science community and also officials in the West still, deep down, in their deep state, understand that it is correct to put the question this way and it is impossible for us to compromise fundamental security interests in the conditions of a direct and intense conflict in which the West is involved," Ryabkov said.