The head of Russia’s lower house of parliament, the State Duma, said on Sunday that Western military support for Ukraine could bring about a “global catastrophe” and warned of potential retaliation for arms supplies.
“Deliveries of offensive weapons to the Kyiv regime will lead to a global catastrophe,” State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin wrote on Telegram.
“If Washington and NATO countries supply weapons that will be used to strike civilian cities and attempt to seize our territories, as they threaten, this will lead to retaliatory measures using more powerful weapons,” he said.
Volodin’s warning came after The New York Times reported the Biden administration was considering helping Ukraine attack Crimea, which Russia has controlled since 2014 but neither Washington nor Kyiv recognize as Russian territory. The administration previously avoided backing such operations over fears of escalation, but now it is less concerned even though the risk still clearly exists.
“Given the technological superiority of Russian weapons, foreign politicians making such decisions need to understand that this could end in a global tragedy that will destroy their countries,” Volodin added.
Volodin also hinted Russia could use nuclear weapons if it feels its “territorial integrity” is threatened. “Arguments that the nuclear powers have not previously used weapons of mass destruction in local conflicts are untenable. Because these states did not face a situation where there was a threat to the security of their citizens and the territorial integrity of the country,” he wrote.
Dmitry Medvedev, the former president and current deputy head of Russia’s Security Council, made a similar warning last week when he hinted Russia could use nuclear weapons if it loses a conventional war in Ukraine.
“None of them gets it that a nuclear power’s loss of a conventional war can lead to a nuclear one. Nuclear powers haven’t been defeated in major conflicts crucial for their destiny,” Medvedev said. The Kremlin said that the former Russian president’s comments align with Russia’s military doctrine, which allows the use of nuclear weapons if Russia’s existence is threatened.
US political leaders are disassociated from reality. They simultaneously the Russians are madmen but will not act in ways that are mad. In particular, shame on McConnell. Fie and shame.
Certainly could, better retreat now while you still have some army left.
The reality is the US and Russia are in substantial agreement about the size of Russia
russia is 6.6 million square miles
Crimea is 10,000 square miles.
About 0.15% disagreement.
So the Russians really going to destroy the whole wide world of that small a disagreement? I don’t think so. In fact I don’t think the Russians have the guts to start WW3 every time they have had the chance in the past a field commander has ( thankfully) wavered.
If there is any WW3 to be started trust me the USA will the one to do it.
Substitute “cold-blooded inhumanity” for “guts”, and I would generally agree. Where I disagree is in the presumption that the war is about Crimea, or Ukraine. The war is about unipolar global domination by the US as opposed to some sort of multi-lateral division of power.
The Wolfowitz Doctrine, generated as a memo in 1989-1990, outlines the US position, which is extension of the Monroe Doctrine across the globe.