Moscow: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday warned that a third world war 'will be nuclear and disastrous,' if the fallout of invasion of Ukraine intensifies
This is seen as a thinly veiled threat to NATO not to get involved in Ukraine; Lavrov’s statement has come on the heels of President Vladimir Putin’s warning that any country sending troops to Ukraine would be met with severe consequences.
The foreign minister went on to claim that Moscow was ready to have a second round of negotiations but accused Kyiv of deliberately delaying the process at the request of the United States.
'We are ready for the second round of negotiations, but the Ukrainian side is delaying [the process] at the behest of the Americans,' said Lavrov, according to Russian news agency Tass.
His statement came after US President Joe Biden used his State of the Union address to brand Putin a 'Russian dictator' and declare that Moscow is 'more isolated than ever.' With that, he also announced the closure of US air space to all Russian flights, adding to the already strict Western sanctions.
A Russian source close to the negotiations said that the second round of talks was supposed to take place later on Wednesday close to the Belarusian-Polish border after an initial attempt at diplomacy concluded on Monday.
Lavrov also sought to justify the invasion of Ukraine by saying Russia's forces 'will not allow the East European country to obtain nuclear weapons', TASS reported.
"Today, the dangers that (Ukrainian President) Zelenskyy's regime poses for neighbouring countries and international security have increased substantially after the authorities in Kyiv embarked upon lethal games to acquire their own nuclear weapons," Lavrov said while speaking at a meeting in Geneva.
There is no evidence yet that Ukraine has nuclear weapons or plans to acquire them, though Lavrov questioned why the United States continued to maintain nuclear weapons in European countries in spite of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Lavrov also said that the "real danger" of Ukraine acquiring nuclear weapons required a response from Moscow, reports Daily Mail.
