Europe is Closer to Using Nuclear Weapons Than at Any Time Since The End of The Cold War
>Warns Former Russian Foreign Minister
- The threat of nuclear war is closer than at any time since the 1980s according to ex-minister Igor Ivanov
- Speaking in Brussels, Mr Ivanov warned the threat has grown due to the Ukraine crisis
- His views, from a man who served as Russian foreign minister from 1998-2004, will alarm diplomats looking for a peaceful resolution to the conflict
Daily Mail UK, 19 March 2016
Russian ex-foreign minister Igor Ivanov warns Europe is closer to nuclear than during the 1980s
The threat of nuclear war has been brought much closer thanks to the stand-off in Ukraine warns a former Russian foreign minister.
Igor Ivanov, who served from 1998 to 2004 and now leads a government backed think-tank, said on Saturday: 'The risk of confrontation with the use of nuclear weapons in Europe is higher than in the 1980s.'
He said the East versus West altercation over the Ukraine crisis has meant the risk of nuclear warfare is growing despite countries cutting their arsenals.
Speaking at an event in Brussels with the foreign ministers of Ukraine and Poland, Mr Ivanov said: 'We have less nuclear warheads, but the risk of them being used is growing.'
His comments will alarm European and NATO diplomats who are looking for a peaceful solution to end the conflict in Ukraine, which has claimed over 9,000 lives since April 2014.
Mr Ivanov said there is little chance of a broad reconciliation between the parties, and blamed a missile defence shield the United States is creating in Europe for raising the stakes.
Secretary General of NATO Jens Stoltenberg has warned Russia about intimidating its neighbours by speaking about the threat of nuclear weapons.
But the ex-minister said: 'It can be assured that once the U.S. deploys its missile defence system in Poland, Russia would respond by deploying its own missile defence system in Kaliningrad,' referring to a Russian territory in the Baltics.
'The paths of Europe and Russia are seriously diverging and will remain so for a long time ... probably for decades to come,' he added, before claiming it was Russia's destiny to be a leader in greater Eurasia from Belarus to the Chinese border.
Nuclear war threat: Mr Ivanov said the threat has increased due to the East-West stand-off in Ukraine
Both Russia and the United States account for around 90 per cent of the global stock of nuclear weapons, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
They are estimated to have around 7,000 warheads each.
Mr Ivanov's comments come as militarisation in Europe increased today due to the migration crisis.
Armoured personnel were seen patrolling along the Hungarian-Serbian border blocking the main path of migrants looking to leave the Middle East and enter the EU.
Militarisation in Europe: Today armoured personnel of the Hungarian Army patrolled a temporary border fence along the Hungarian-Serbian border
Cuban leader Fidel Castro (left) shaking hands with the Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov in 1999
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