Official: Russia Ready for Long Confrontation With U.S.

Date: 01 October 2024 - 22:12

News ID: ۱۳۱۹۴۵

MOSCOW (Dispatches) -
Russia must prepare for a long confrontation with the United States and has sent repeated warnings to Washington over the crisis in relations, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov was quoted as saying on Tuesday.
The 2-1/2-year-old Ukraine war has triggered the gravest confrontation between Russia and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis - considered to be the closest the two Cold War superpowers came to intentional nuclear war.
The conflict is entering what Russian officials say is the most dangerous phase to date. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has been urging Kyiv’s allies for months to let Ukraine fire longer-range Western missiles deep into Russia to limit Moscow’s ability to launch attacks.
Ryabkov, who oversees arms control and relations with Washington, said Moscow had no illusions about relations, given the “bipartisan anti-Russian consensus” in the United States.
“We must prepare for a long-term confrontation with this country. We are ready for this in every sense,” Ryabkov was quoted as saying by state news agency RIA.
“We are sending all the warning signals to our opponent so that it does not underestimate our determination,” Ryabkov said.
President Vladimir Putin warned the West last week that Russia could use nuclear weapons if it was struck with missiles, and that Moscow would consider any assault on it supported by a nuclear power to be a joint attack.
On Monday, Putin ordered the conscription of 133,000 new servicemen in Russia’s autumn draft, according to a Kremlin decree published.
The decree, published in Russian state-run newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta, calls to carry out the draft of citizens “aged 18 to 30 years, who are not in the reserve and are subject to conscription in accordance with the Federal Law ... in the amount of 133,000 people.”
Russia also launched several waves of drones targeting Kyiv early, with air defense units successfully defending the city during the attack which lasted over five hours, Ukraine’s military said.
The Ukrainian air force said that it shot down 67 out of 73 drones and one of three missiles launched by Russia during the attack.
Governor Ruslan Kravchenko reported no damage to critical or residential infrastructure in the region surrounding the capital. He said that the attack caused fires in five districts of the region, but there were no casualties.
Mykolaiv governor Vitaliy Kim said the attack caused a fire at a critical infrastructure facility in the southern region.
Russia has launched multiple air attacks on Kyiv and Ukraine throughout September, targeting Ukraine’s energy, military and transport infrastructure in attacks which have killed dozens of civilians.