Russian security official hits back at G-7 call for nuclear guarantees from Moscow

ISTANBUL

A Russian security official on Tuesday hit back at a joint statement by the foreign ministers of the Group of Seven (G-7) calling on Russia to give guarantees about refraining from the use of nuclear weapons.

“They demand that Russia give them some guarantees about nuclear weapons, but in fact they are hinting at a future nuclear conflict between our country and NATO,” deputy head of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev said in a message on Telegram.

Medvedev further accused the G-7 of being “liars”, claiming “they use nuclear weapons, but do not repent.”

“They are endlessly hypocritical and lie to their own and others, but they say that our country is spreading ‘false information’ about Ukraine,” Medvedev said, adding: “And it all takes place in Japan. Where hundreds of thousands died from nuclear bombing.”

Following a meeting of foreign ministers in Japan on Tuesday, a joint statement by the G-7 called on Russia to recommit "in words and deeds" to the principles noted by the joint statement of the leaders of the five nuclear-weapon states on preventing nuclear war and avoiding arms races on Jan. 3 last year.

The joint statement also said that Hiroshima, together with Nagasaki, offers a reminder of "the unprecedented devastation and immense human suffering the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki experienced as a result of the atomic bombings of 1945."