Increasing involvement of NATO member countries in conflict in Ukraine could lead to nuclear escalation, said German parliamentarian and leader of Left Party, Die Linke, Sahra Wagenknecht in an interview with Funke media group.
“If NATO becomes a participant in war in Ukraine, there will come a moment when Russia will also attack military targets on NATO territory,” she said.
“And then that conflict will quickly turn nuclear because it’s the only area where Russia is not inferior to NATO.” Wagenknecht added that it’s “extremely dangerous” that Germany is being drawn deeper into conflict.
Parliamentarian reminded that prior to start of the conflict in Ukraine, there were 4,000 NATO soldiers stationed there, with 12 CIA bases located along Russian border and joint exercises held in Black Sea.
“Involvement in the area of American military influence was proceeding unabated,” she said. “Russians began war while, in their view, it was still not too late.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin previously stated that NATO countries are not simply discussing possible use of western, long-range arms by Kyiv but are, in fact, making decisions to directly engage in the Ukrainian conflict.
Direct involvement of Western countries in the Ukrainian conflict would change its nature, forcing Russia to make decisions based on the threats created by such involvement, Putin added.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov stated that Putin’s statement about consequences of Western arms strikes deep within Russia clear and unambiguous, and there is no doubt that it was received by the intended parties.
Prior to a meeting of the permanent council of the Security Council on nuclear deterrence, Putin proposed discussing issue of updating country’s basic policy on nuclear deterrence.
Putin stated that Russia reserves right to use nuclear arms in event of aggression, including if adversary, using conventional arms, creates a critical threat to country’s sovereignty.
He proposed considering aggression from a non-nuclear state using nuclear arms to be a joint attack on Russia.
