CONFLICTS
Why has Russia warned the U.S. about the risks of a Third World War?
Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, says Americans are wrong if they think World War III would only take place in Europe.
The United States has been warned by Russia it could be dragged into a Third World War if it relaxes rules on how Ukraine uses American weapons in the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian War.
Russian foreign minister says West “playing with fire”
Sergei Lavrov, who has been Russia’s foreign minister for over 20 years, mainly under current president Vladimir Putin, said this week that the West was “asking for trouble” and suggested a potential Third World War wouldn’t be confined to Europe if the U.S. agrees to Ukrainian requests to use foreign-supplied weapons on Russian soil.
Speaking to reporters in Moscow, Lavrov explained: “We are now confirming once again that playing with fire - and they are like small children playing with matches - is a very dangerous thing for grown-up uncles and aunts who are entrusted with nuclear weapons in one or another Western country.
“Americans unequivocally associate conversations about Third World War as something that, God forbid, if it happens, will affect Europe exclusively.”
Putin has consistently claimed Russia doesn’t want to become involved in a conflict with the NATO alliance, led by the United States, but has similarly fired warnings about a broader war involving the biggest nuclear powers around the globe following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Lavrov’s words come after Ukraine carried out the biggest attack on Russia since the Second World War, an incursion into the Kursk region, which is to the northeast of Ukraine. Former US president Donald Trump suggested on Tuesday such an attack could lead to World War III.
U.S. restrictions on Ukrainian weapon use
So far, the United States has only allowed Ukraine to use its long-range weapons on Ukrainian soil or to defend the country from cross-border Russian attacks. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has tried to convince allies to relax those restrictions, with Russia claiming British tanks and American rocket systems were used in the attack on Kursk.