Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov warns Third World War would be ‘nuclear and destructive’
Moscow, Mar 2: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Wednesday warned that a third World War, should it break out, will be "nuclear and devastating", amid spiralling tensions with the West over Moscow's ongoing massive military operation against Ukraine.
"A third World War would be a devastating nuclear war, Russia's longtime top diplomat said in an interview to the Al Jazeera television channel, according to state-owned TASS news agency.
Also, Lavrov stressed US President Joe Biden's remark that a third World War would be an alternative to Washington's tough sanctions against Moscow.
Lavrov said that Russia was ready for sanctions that were imposed against it but was surprised that the penalties affected athletes and journalists.
"We were ready for sanctions but did not expect that they would affect athletes, intellectuals, actors and journalists, he said, referring to the ban and sanctions by Western countries.
In his maiden State of the Union address, President Biden on Tuesday night accused his Russian counterpart of waging a "premeditated and unprovoked" war against Ukraine, asserting that "dictators" like Vladimir Putin would "pay a price" for "invading" a foreign country.
The US has joined the European Union in banning Russian flights from its airspace in retaliation for the invasion of Ukraine.
Lavrov said the special operation against Ukraine was launched with the aim preventing Kyiv from obtaining nuclear weapons, the Qatar-based news channel reported.
"The military operation in Ukraine, including Kiev, is aimed at disarming the Ukraine. Russia will not let Ukraine obtain nuclear weapons," he was quoted as saying by the channel.
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has said that Kiev might revise its obligations under the Budapest Memorandum, by which Ukraine had agreed to give away nuclear weapons in exchange for security guarantees.
Lavrov said that Russia is ready for the second round of talks, but the Ukrainian side is delaying the the process under command from the Amercans.
Earlier on Tuesday, Lavrov said that the West should not establish military facilities on the territory of former USSR states that are not members of NATO.
In a video address to the Disarmament Conference in Geneva, he also emphasised that Moscow believes that obtaining legally binding security guarantees from North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) members is of paramount importance.
Russia has long resisted Ukraine's move towards the European Union and the West's defensive military alliance, NATO.
In a pre-dawn TV address on February 24, President Putin declared that Russia could not feel "safe, develop and exist" because of what he claimed was a constant threat from modern Ukraine.
Putin claimed that his goal was to protect people subjected to bullying and genocide and aim for the "demilitarisation and de-Nazification" of Ukraine.
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Notices issued to Himachal conductor, driver for anti-Rahul Gandhi audio clip playing in govt bus
Shimla, Nov 30: After finding itself in soup over a CID enquiry on "missing samosas", the Himachal Pradesh government is again in a tight spot for issuing notices to a state roadways conductor and driver after an audio clip with defamatory remarks against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was allegedly played in their bus.
A man in his complaint to the Chief Minister's Office said defamatory words were used against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav and other leaders in an audio clip which was played in the Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) bus plying between Shimla and Sanjauli on November 5.
In a letter to the conductor and driver of the bus on November 25, the HRTC sought explanation from them. The letter went viral on the internet.
Talking to reporters on Friday, HRTC Managing Director Rohan Chand Thakur said a routine complaint was received from a customer after which a fact finding enquiry was initiated. The enquiry was closed as the allegations were found baseless.
However, the wording of the explanation sought could have been better and the officers have been verbally conveyed to improve in the coming times, he added.
The defamatory words were allegedly used in a debate being played in the audio clip.
Reacting sharply to the letter, BJP MLA from Dharamshala, Sudhir Sharma, said the government should appoint marshals to stop audios being played in buses.
"Such decisions of the government are damaging the reputation of the state government as well as the state," he added.
Earlier, the state CID department had ordered an internal enquiry on the samosas which were brought for Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu during a function and by mistake were served to the his security staff. A senior police official had termed the faux pas as an anti-CID and ant-Government act.
