Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said on Thursday that the current confrontation between Russia and the West over Ukraine has no precedent in history and one mistake could lead to catastrophe. It comes at a time when the war in Ukraine, which has been going on for two and a half years, is entering its most dangerous phase, according to Russian officials quoted by Reuters.
Ryabkov stressed that the situation cannot be compared to the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, when the Cold War between the US and the USSR almost led to a nuclear conflict. According to him, the danger of an armed conflict between nuclear powers should not be underestimated, noting: "We are moving through uncharted military and political territories".
Russia has issued repeated warnings to the US and its allies that if Ukraine is allowed to strike Russian territory with missiles supplied by the West, it would be considered a serious escalation. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has been urging Kiev's allies for months to allow the use of Western missiles, including the long-range US ATACMS, to reduce Russia's ability to attack.
Russian President Vladimir Putin warned on September 12 that Western approval of such a move would mean "direct involvement of NATO, the US and European countries in the war in Ukraine". Putin also changed Russia's nuclear doctrine to lower the threshold for using nuclear weapons in response to threats.
Zelensky calls on the West to ignore the so-called "red lines" of Russia, but Moscow, which has the world's largest nuclear arsenal, has warned that this would be a dangerous mistake.