Following Ukraine’s application for membership in NATO, Key Russian officials have warned that it will escalate the current war to World War Three.
“Kyiv is well aware that such a step would mean a guaranteed escalation to World War Three,” TASS quoted Alexander Venediktov, the deputy secretary of Russia’s Security Council, as saying.
On September 30, Ukrain President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced Ukraine’s bid to fast-track the process of NATO membership as Russian President Vladimir Putin formally proclaimed the annexation of 18% of the territory of Ukraine.
As all 30 members need to have a consensus regarding the inclusion of Ukraine, the membership of the country is not anywhere near for now.
Alexander Venediktov, deputy to Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev and a powerful ally of President Vladimir Putin warned that the move to provide Ukraine with full membership of NATO will be suicidal.
“The suicidal nature of such a step is understood by NATO members themselves,” he said.
The warning comes amid heavy shelling by Russia even in residential areas of Ukraine in reaction to what it claims as a “terrorist attack” by Ukrainian forces on the Kerch bridge, which connects the Russian mainland with the Crimean Peninsula.
President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly chastised the US for driving NATO’s eastward expansion, particularly its courting of ex-Soviet republics such as Ukraine and Georgia, which Russia considers to be within its sphere of influence.
Russian President has several times warned of using nuclear weapons against any threat to Russia and even added that the warning must not be rejected as a ‘bluff’.
BY REUTERS