Russia warns West against fighting a nuclear power

Russia’s top diplomat last night warned against “trying to fight to victory with a nuclear power”, delivering a UN General Assembly speech packed with condemnations of what Moscow sees as Western attempts at global domination and machinations in Ukraine, and even inside the United Nations itself.

Three days after president Vladimir Putin aired a shift in his country’s nuclear doctrine, foreign minister Sergey Lavrov accused the West of using Ukraine – which Russia invaded in February 2022 – as a tool to try “to defeat” Moscow strategically, and “preparing Europe for it to also throw itself into this suicidal escapade.”

“I’m not going to talk here about the senselessness and the danger of the very idea of trying to fight to victory with a nuclear power, which is what Russia is,” he said.

Mr Putin’s recent announcement – which appeared to lower significantly the threshold for the possible use of Russia’s nuclear arsenal – was seen as a message to the US and other Western countries as Ukraine seeks its go-ahead to strike Russia with longer-range weapons.

“Whether or not they will provide the permission for Ukraine for long-range weapons, then we will see what their understanding was of what they heard,” Mr Lavrov said at a news conference after his speech yesterday.

The Biden administration this week announced an additional $2.7bn in military aid for Ukraine, but it doesn’t include the type of long-range arms that president Volodymyr Zelensky is seeking, nor a green light to use such weapons to strike deep into Russia.