'Absolutely insane': Kremlin rejects claims Russia is ready to unleash nuclear war

MOSCOW

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Friday rejected as "absolutely insane" claims that Moscow may unleash a nuclear war.

Russia is "extremely responsible and cautious" about nuclear weapons, Peskov said in an interview with the student-run MGIMO 360 TV channel.

"Unfortunately, over the past year we have been hearing such irresponsible nuclear rhetoric more and more often, we hear absolutely insane accusations of Russia that we are ready, they say, to unleash a nuclear war. ... Russia, being a huge, powerful, strong country, is extremely responsible and cautious in its approach to what it possesses," he stressed.

According to Peskov, the nuclear rhetoric is used to present Russia as a threat in the ongoing hybrid war.

"The task of all of us ... is simply to explain that these are unsubstantiated statements and simply irresponsible words," he said.

Russia deployed nuclear weapons in neighboring Belarus earlier this year, with Western officials, including US President Joe Biden, terming it a threat. Moscow had dismissed the criticism, saying the US had for decades deployed such nuclear weapons in Europe.

Russia's "special military operation" Ukraine in February 2022 has led to unprecedented tensions with the West.

The spokesman attributed the current global confrontation to a period of profound transformation marked by the emergence of new power centers.

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, based on its economic power and technological development, the West deemed itself "the lord of the world," eligible to write the rules and impose them on other nations, Peskov said.

However, over time, some countries reached a level of development sufficient to fight for sovereignty and independence, unwillingness to further obey the West led to the conflicts, he asserted.

The spokesman warned that the turbulence may grow in coming decades, saying the West will try to preserve its "waning leadership," and various conflicts are possible.

Peskov said a "serious lack of predictability" in politics or the economy makes it impossible to foresee the world in 10 years, but hoped that Russia will be "wiser, richer, and stronger."

The official also backed censorship in war time, saying "there should be some censorship and certain rules that would be unacceptable in normal peacetime" because it is very easy to use bitter feelings and fears, characteristic to difficult times, to deceive people.