Russia Issues New Nuclear Warning to US at UN: ‘Suicide Venture’

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, issued a new nuclear warning during the United Nations (U.N.) General Assembly on Saturday, as he told Washington, D.C., to prepare Europe for a “suicide venture.”

Amid the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, tensions between North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) countries and the Kremlin have continued as NATO leaders have increasingly warned that direct conflict with Moscow is a realistic danger as it has more nuclear warheads than any other country, according to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICANW). This comes after Putin and senior Russian officials have repeatedly threatened nuclear escalation against Kyiv and its Western partners since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

According to Tass, a Russian state news agency, Lavrov, speaking at the U.N. General Assembly on Saturday, warned Washington, D.C. as well as London to prepare for a “suicide venture” pointing out the “pointlessness and danger of the very idea to fight to victory with a nuclear power like Russia.”

“A goal has been declared to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia – almost like London and Washington planned in May 1945 as they developed ‘Operation Unthinkable’ on destruction of the Soviet Union even before the end of World War II. Back then, it was a closely held secret. The Anglo-Saxon strategists of today, however, make no secret of their intentions. So far, they expect to defeat Russia with the hands of the illegitimate neo-Nazi Kiev regime, but they already prepare Europe to leap into a suicide venture as well,” the Lavrov said.

The Kremlin has repeatedly attempted to justify its invasion by claiming a “neo-Nazi regime” is in charge in Kyiv. This has been emphatically rejected by Ukraine and the international community.

Lavrov added on Saturday: “Equally pointless is the mantra of Kiev’s Western masters about the lack of alternative for talks based on the notorious peace formula.”

Putin upped the ante of his rhetoric on Wednesday with changes to Moscow’s nuclear doctrine, which could include responding to a massive launch of missiles or drones crossing its state border.

According to Reuters, the 2020 nuclear doctrine says Russia may use nuclear weapons in the event of a nuclear attack by an enemy or a conventional attack that threatens the existence of the state.

Newsweek has reached out to Russia’s defense ministry, the U.S. Department of Defense and the European Defense Agency via email for comment.

However, during a televised meeting of Russia’s Security Council, Putin said an attack that poses a critical threat to the sovereignty of Russia could be carried out by a non-nuclear power with the participation or support of a nuclear power.

While no countries were mentioned, the war has seen an increase in Ukraine’s use of American, British and French missiles on Russian targets.

The U.S. and other Western countries have been providing Ukraine with military aid to defend itself against Russia. Earlier this year, the U.S. began supplying Ukraine with longer-range ATACMS (Army Tactical Missile System) missiles.

Ukraine has pressed hard for the U.S. and the United Kingdom to drop their prohibition on American ATACMS and British Storm Shadow missiles to be used to target Russian territory amid concerns that Kyiv’s use would escalate the conflict.

Ukraine says it needs the long-range weapons to target air bases used by Russia’s warplanes that launch glide bombs against Kyiv often from deep inside Russian territory. Storm Shadow missiles with a range of around 150 miles have been used against Russian targets in occupied Ukrainian territory only.

However, despite threats of a nuclear escalation, Gustav Gressel, senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, said Putin’s comments do not signal any changes to Russia’s nuclear posture. “It’s a bluff,” he previously told Newsweek. “If they’d mean it, we’d all have had a nuclear escalation already.”

This is not the first time Lavrov warned of nuclear response as he said in an interview with Sky News Arabia last week that while “nobody wants a nuclear war,” he warned the country’s nuclear weapons are in “full combat readiness.”

“We talk about red lines, expecting that our assessments, statements will be heard by intelligent, decision-making people. It is not serious to say that if tomorrow you do not do what I demand of you, we will press the ‘red button,'” the Russian foreign minister said. “I am convinced that in such situations, decision makers have an idea of what we are talking about. Nobody wants a nuclear war.”

He added that Russia possesses weapons “that will have serious implications for the handlers of the Ukrainian regime.”