Russia wants a war with NATO, a military analyst has claimed as he quoted statements made on Russian state television.
Dr Peter Caddick-Adams, a prominent British historian who specialises in military history said Russian TV claimed Russia is at war with NATO “because all of Ukraine’s military formations are carrying out NATO’s tasks”.
“Baiting NATO?”, one Twitter user asked.
Caddick-Adams replied: “My assessment: Right now, at this moment in time, the Kremlin is so angry, so bitter and deluded, that it actually wants a war with NATO.”
But Russian president Vladimir Putin said last month that “of course” his country does not want war in Europe.
According to the BBC, Putin wants assurances that neighbouring Ukraine will not join the Western-led NATO military alliance, because he sees it as a threat to Russia’s security.
But NATO rejected the demand – and US president Joe Biden insisting the alliance would maintain its “open door” policy for European states who want to join it, Reuters reported last week.
Biden has repeatedly said the US would not send troops in Ukraine amid fears that any involvement of NATO countries in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine would spark a wider conflict, potentially nuclear.
Putin’s foreign minister warned that World War Three “can only be nuclear”.
Sergey Lavrov claimed the West is obsessed with such threats of destruction – and compared the United States to Nazi Germany, the Daily Mail reported.
Lavrov said: “It is clear that World War Three can only be nuclear.
“I would like to point out that it’s in the heads of Western politicians that the idea of a nuclear war is spinning constantly, and not in the heads of Russians.
“Therefore I assure you that we will not allow any provocations to throw us off balance.”
Last Sunday, Putin ordered Russia’s nuclear deterrent forces to be put on high alert, saying western countries have been “unfriendly” towards his country following the invasion, in the light of sanctions gradually imposed in protest to Russia’s actions.
Lavrov also accused the US today of trying to have “the whole of Europe” under its control, likening the Americans to Hitler and Napoleon.
He said: “Napoleon and Hitler had the objective to have the whole of Europe under their control, now Americans have got Europe under their control.
“We see that the situation what role the EU is really playing in the context of the global situation, they are just fulfiling a role.”
He added: “We see that there’s a picture like in Hollywood of absolute evil and absolute good and this is unfortunate.
“I think that this hysteria will end and our partners will settle down after a while and we will sit down to negotiate but only on one absolute condition and that is as equal parties.”
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