It’s troubling words, but Russian Nobel Peace Prize winner Dmitry Muratov no longer believes the use of nuclear weapons is out of the question.
Russian Nobel Peace Prize winner Dmitry Muratov warns of the danger of nuclear war after the Russian attack on Ukraine.
“Of course that would be a nightmare, but I don’t rule out the possibility that at some point there might actually be temptations to press the nuclear button,” said the journalist, who is critical of the government, after the words of a translator at a hearing in the European Parliament on Thursday. “There really is a risk of nuclear war here.”
He justified this fear with statements by Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. He had said on Wednesday that World War III would be a nuclear war. This threat is now also frequently mentioned on Russian state television.
“The future of our children was destroyed here”
“It’s extremely worrying for me,” Muratov said. A few weeks ago, no one could have imagined that Russia would attack Ukraine. “No one believed that either,” said Muratov. The 60-year-old runs the newspaper Novaya Gazeta, which is critical of the Kremlin. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021.
He reiterated sharp criticism of the war on Ukraine launched by Putin. “There was no excuse for this order,” Muratov said, according to the simultaneous translation. Many Russians didn’t want this war, even if they supported Putin. “The future of our children was ruined here,” the translator repeated Muratov’s words. However, he does not expect resistance from the elites around Putin. They are inextricably linked to the President and dependent on him.
The journalist also criticized the closure of the Ekho Moskvy radio station, which, like his newspaper, had criticized the war. That is the reason why the station was closed. “Any testimony against the war will be treated as high treason,” Muratov said.
Lavrov accuses West of nuclear scaremongering
In the face of warnings of nuclear war, Russia has accused the West of scaremongering. “Everyone knows that a Third World War can only be nuclear,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Thursday. However, this question only arises in the minds of Western politicians and not in those of the Russians.
“I assure you that we will not allow any provocations that will make us lose our balance,” Lavrov said in an interview with Russian and international media broadcast on state television. “But if (the West) starts to unleash a real war against us, those who hatch such plans should think about it, and I think they’re thinking about it.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin had ordered the nuclear power’s deterrent weapons to be put on high alert. This includes nuclear weapons.
Lavrov now emphasized: “We have a military doctrine that describes the parameters and conditions for the use of nuclear weapons.” There will be no “escalation for the sake of de-escalation,” he said. “But talk of nuclear war is now underway.” That’s up to the west. He also accused Western countries of “hysteria”.
Source: Stern
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