Anatoly Antonov, Russia’s ambassador to the U.S., said in an interview last week that the world is on the brink of a nuclear showdown unlike any time in history thanks to the West’s provocation and support for Ukraine. 

Antonov was asked about a statement from the U.S. that essentially gave the U.K. its blessing to provide Ukraine with armor-piercing munitions made with toxic depleted uranium. Russian President Vladimir Putin already called the move an escalation and said the new reality is that the “collective West” is beginning to use weapons with a nuclear component. 

Antonov called the U.S.’s comment on the depleted uranium a “new low.”

“There is a continuous flow of lethal weapons to Ukraine, which are used to annihilate civilians, residential areas, schools, hospitals, and kindergartens. It seems that the enlightened West, led by Washington, has irrevocably decided to bring humanity to a dangerous line, beyond which a nuclear Armageddon is looming ever more distinctly,” Antonov said in the statement obtained by RT.

Sergei Shoigu, the Russian defense minister, also took issue with the decision and said it means there remain fewer steps before a “nuclear collision” with the West. 

China Sides With Russia, Blasts U.K.’s ‘Dirty Act’

The Global Times, an English-language Chinese newspaper took Britain to task for approving the shipment of DU munitions to Ukraine and noted that munitions are also known as “dirty bombs.”

The paper noted that the world’s “most important grain and oilseed producing and exporting countries, planting including corn, wheat, barley, and sunflower seed oil and so on.”

“The potential hazards and pollution to the environment caused by depleted uranium cannot be ignored,” the paper said. “In addition, precautions should also be taken to prevent the ‘broken window effect’ and ‘domino effect’ caused by depleted uranium, which will lower the bottom line for the world.” 

Russian Deputy FM: Risk of Nuclear Clash at Highest Level in Decades

Sergei Ryabkov, the Russian deputy foreign minister, told reporters last week that Russia was in a “de facto” war with Washington over Ukraine, and, said the stakes are even higher given the disagreements on the 2010 New START Treaty, which put a limit on the number of deployed strategic nuclear warheads held by the countries at 1,550 each. 

The treaty has been extended to 2026. Washington raised the possibility that the treaty is moot because it “cannot certify the Russian Federation to be in compliance with the terms.”

Russia said that since the U.S. has announced that its goal is the strategic defeat of Russia, there can be no business-as-usual and pulled out of the treaty in February. 

Reuters noted that Ryabkov addressed an event called, “A World Without START: What’s Next,” last week and said there was no chance at restoring the treaty at the moment due to what he called Washington’s “hostile course” towards Russia amid the war. He said he’s not interested in speculating about the chances of a nuclear exchange, but said it is “higher than anything we have had for the past few decades, let’s put it that way.”

The day after Putin’s announcement, Ryabkov said Russia would continue to abide by New START’s numerical constraints, according to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. 

Indeed, President Joe Biden said the risk of nuclear Armageddon is at its highest point since the Cuban Missile Crisis. (See “BIDEN WARNS WORLD THAT RISK OF NUCLEAR ARMAGEDDON IS HIGHEST SINCE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS,” 11 Oct 2022.)

Ryabkov said the U.S., U.K., and France have formed a “united front” against Russia, and “we will necessarily take into account the option that these countries may jointly use their nuclear capabilities against Russia.”

TRENDPOST: The Trends Journal has long said that the West is not conducting a proxy war against Russia. The West, led by the U.S., is at war with Russia, but it will not be official until the first nuclear blast and/or a false flag event. (See “READY TO DIE FOR UKRAINE? RUSSIA WARNS OF NUCLEAR ANNIHILATION” 28 Feb 2023 and “PUTIN SEES ‘TECTONIC CHANGE’ IN WORLD ORDER, BLAMES WEST OF STOKING NUKE FEARS.”)

Last month, former president of Russia Dmitry Medvedev warned of a nuclear ‘apocalypse’ if NATO and the U.S. continued to ramp up the Ukraine War.

“If the issue of the very existence of Russia is raised seriously, it won’t be decided on the Ukrainian front. [It’ll be decided] together with the issue of the further existence of the entire human civilization,” he said.

Medvedev was asked about German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock’s endorsement of the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant for Putin for alleged war crimes.

“Let’s imagine—obviously this situation which will never be realized—but nevertheless let’s imagine that it was realized: The current head of the nuclear state went to a territory, say Germany, and was arrested,” Medvedev said on Telegram. “What would that be? It would be a declaration of war on the Russian Federation. And, in that case, all our assets—all our missiles etc.—would fly to the Bundestag, to the chancellor’s office.”