Putin Ally Warns NATO Nuclear War Possible if Russia Loses in Ukraine

Felix Light and Guy Faulconbridge

MOSCOW (Reuters).-A NATO ally warned that a defeat by Russia in Ukraine could lead to a nuclear war. Meanwhile, the head of Russia’s Orthodox Church stated that the West would destroy Russia if it tried to conquer it.

These apocalyptic statements are intended to dissuade the NATO-led U.S. military alliance from getting more involved in the conflict, just as a meeting of Ukraine’s allied countries is scheduled to discuss sending more weapons to Kyiv.

However, the fact that Russia could lose on the battlefield was a moment of clarity from Putin’s inner circle.

“The defeat of a nuclear power in a conventional war may trigger a nuclear war,” Dmitry Medvedev (ex-Russian President) is the deputy chairman of Putin’s powerful security council.

“Nuclear powers have never lost major conflicts on which their fate depends,” Medvedev, who was president of the country from 2008 to 2012, said this.

In a sermon for Epiphany, the head Russian Orthodox Church stated that Russia’s destruction would lead to the end of the world.

Medvedev suggested that NATO and other leaders in defense, who will meet in Germany at Ramstein Air Base on Friday to discuss strategy, support for West’s attempt against Russia in Ukraine, and should consider the risks associated with their policies.

Putin casts Russia’s shadow “special military operation” In Ukraine, as an existential struggle with an aggressive and arrogant West. Russia has stated that Russia will use every available means to defend its people and country.

‘ALARMING TIME’

In recent months, the Kremlin chief sought to prepare Russians for a tougher battle and promised eventual victory in a conflict that the West leaders will not allow him to win.

The United States has denied Russian claims it wants to destroy Russia. President Joe Biden however warned that a conflict with NATO and Russia could result in World War Three.

Top Putin allies claim that the U.S. and European military aid to Ukraine of tens of trillions of dollars is proof that Russia is in direct confrontation with NATO. This is the Cold War nightmare for both Soviet and Western leaders.

In a sermon, Patriarch Kirill (the head of Russian Orthodox Church) said: “We pray to the Lord that he bring the madmen to reason and help them understand that any desire to destroy Russia will mean the end of the world.”

“Today is an alarming time,” The state news agency RIA quoted him saying. “But we believe that the Lord will not leave Russian land.”

Sergei Lavrov (Putin’s foreign minister) told Minsk reporters that Russia would do anything to ensure NATO and European Union leaders. “sobered up” Get it done as soon as you can.

“I hope that the sobering up will come,” Lavrov said. “We will do everything so that our colleagues from NATO and the European Union sober up as soon as possible.”

NUCLEAR DOCTRINE

Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine has triggered one of the deadliest European conflicts since World War Two and the biggest confrontation between Moscow and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.

The United States and its allies condemned Russia’s invasion in Ukraine as an imperial land grab. Ukraine, however, has pledged to fight until the last Russian soldier leaves its territory.

Medvedev, who has raised the threat to a nuclear war since Russia invaded Ukraine in the past, now admits that Russia could be defeated. This is a sign of Moscow’s concern about increased Western weapon deliveries to Ukraine.

Russia and the United States are the two biggest nuclear powers. They hold approximately 90% of the world’s nuclear warheads.

Dmitry Peskov, Kremlin spokesperson, was asked whether Medvedev’s remarks meant Russia was trying to escalate the crisis to an even greater level. “No, it absolutely does not mean that.”

He claimed that Medvedev’s comments were fully in line with Russia’s nuclear doctrine, which allows a nuclear strike to follow. “aggression against the Russian Federation with conventional weapons when the very existence of the state is threatened”.

(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge, Moscow and Felix Light, Tbilisi; Editing By Mark Trevelyan