MOSCOW: Russia has said the West is playing with fire by allowing Ukraine to attack deep into Russia with Western missiles and warned the United States that World War III will not be limited to Europe.
Ukraine attacked Russia's western Kursk region on August 6, seizing swaths of territory in the biggest foreign attack on Russia since World War Two. President Vladimir Putin said Russia would respond accordingly.
Sergey Lavrov, who served as foreign minister under Putin for more than two decades, said the West was seeking to escalate the war in Ukraine and that considering Ukraine's request to ease restrictions on the use of foreign-supplied weapons would be “asking for trouble.”
Since invading Ukraine in 2022, Putin has repeatedly warned of the risks of a larger war involving the world's largest nuclear power, but has said Russia does not want a conflict with the U.S.-led NATO alliance.
“We are now reaffirming that for adult uncles and aunts in the West who have been entrusted with nuclear weapons, playing with fire is like a small child playing with matches – it is a very dangerous act,” Lavrov told reporters in Moscow.
“The Americans clearly believe that any talk about World War III, if it were to occur, would only affect Europe,” Lavrov said.
Lavrov added that Russia was “clarifying” its nuclear policy.
Russia's 2020 nuclear doctrine outlines circumstances under which the president may consider using nuclear weapons, generally in response to an attack using nuclear or other weapons of mass destruction, or conventional weapons, “when the very existence of the state is threatened.”