Igor Ivanov, foreign minister from 1998 to 2004 under Boris Yeltsin and current President Vladimir Putin, said the risk of a nuclear war in Europe is higher than at any time in the 1980s.
Mr Ivanov, now the head of a Russian Government think-tank, said: “The risk of confrontation with the use of nuclear weapons in Europe is higher than in the 1980s.”
Both Russia and the United States have fewer nuclear weapons than in the Cold War period but with just over 7,000 nuclear warheads each, they still have about 90 per cent of world stocks, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
Talking at a Brussels event with the foreign ministers of Ukraine and Poland, and a US lawmaker, the ex-politician, said: “We have less nuclear warheads, but the risk of them being used is growing.”
Russia has been warned about intimidating its neighbours with talk about nuclear weapons by NATO’s secretary general Jens Stoltenberg, voicing concerns among Western officials.
But Mr Ivanov blamed a missile defence shield being set up by the United States in Europe for raising the stakes.
Part of the shield is a site in Poland due to become operational in 2018 which is particularly sensitive for the Kremlin because it brings US capabilities close to Russian borders.
The US and NATO say the shield is designed to protect Europe against Iranian ballistic missiles and is neither targeted at Russia nor capable of downing its missiles.
Credit to Express.co.uk
No comments:
Post a Comment