Russian Authorities Believe NATO and Russia are On a Collision Course
Jose Nino
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After the Biden regime’s announcement that it would be providing 31 M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov declared that Russia is “on the verge of a direct collision between the US and NATO.”
Ryabkov told Russian state-owned news agency RIA that the US government’s decision to provide Ukraine tanks is an “extremely destructive step” that has “escalated” the Russo-Ukrainian conflict.
With the US seeking to give Russia a “strategic defeat”, Ryabkov asserted that the future of the New START nuclear arms control treaty between the two countries could be on the ropes.
Ryabkov claims that the last pillar of the arms treaty could go away in 2026 without having a replacement.
The New START treaty, which was signed in 2011 and received an extension that goes until 2026, imposed limits on the quantity of intercontinental-range nuclear weapons the two countries can possess. According to a report by the Daily Mail, the combined nuclear arsenals of the US and Russia account for 90% of the world’s nuclear weapons.
When he was questioned about the likelihood that there is no nuclear treaty signed after the New START’s termination in 2026, Ryabkov indicated that “this is quite a possibility.”
“New START may well fall victim to this,” Ryabkov said to RIA. “We are ready for such a scenario.”
Ryabkov said that the New START treaty had the goal of bolstering strategic relations predicated on “mutual trust” and the principle of security. Ryabkov continued by noting that these provisions have been “violated in the most rough and cynical way by American actions at resolving the so-called ‘Russian question’ through aggressive containment.”
Because of this, Ryabkov believes that Russia is curently on the “verge of a direct collision between the US and NATO.”
“Our relations have been brought to this dead end by Washington’s anti-Russian line, which has been toughening year by year and month by month over the past years,” he continued. “The entire security situation, including arms control, has been held hostage by the US line of inflicting a strategic defeat on Russia. We will oppose this in the most resolute way, using all the methods and means at our disposal.”
Talks between Russia and US on the resumption of inspections under the New START treaty were immediately canceled in November of 2022. The two nuclear powers have yet to determine a new time frame for discussions.
Per the treaty, Russia and the US are limited to having 1,550 warheads on deployed intercontinental ballistic missiles, heavy bombers, and submarine ballistic missiles.
“Expiration of the Treaty without a follow-on agreement would leave Russia free to expand strategic nuclear forces that are now constrained, as well as novel intercontinental-range and regional systems that are not currently limited by the Treaty,” The Daily Mail reports per the US Nuclear Posture Review.
Ryabkov’s fears are very valid. The US’s political class is not interested in pursuing peace and only wants confrontation with Russia. Such an adversarial foreign policy is no joke and could go nuclear if certain miscalculations occur. A realist/non-interventionist approach is the way to prevent such a catastrophic outcome.
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