JAKARTA - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday he did not believe the conflict in Ukraine would turn into nuclear war, but warned the United States and Europe that Moscow would never again want to depend on the West.
The Russian economy is facing its most severe crisis since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, after the West imposed severe sanctions on almost all of Russia's financial system and companies, following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine on February 24.
Asked by the Kremlin correspondent for Russia's Kommersant newspaper if he thought a nuclear war could be triggered, Lavrov told reporters in Turkey: "I don't want to believe it, and I don't believe it."
Lavrov, President Vladimir Putin's foreign minister since 2004, says the nuclear theme has been thrown into the discussion only by the West, which he says keeps returning to nuclear war like Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis.
"Of course, it worries us when the West, like Freud, keeps coming back and coming back to this topic," Lavrov said after talks in Antalya, Turkey with his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba.
Lavrov called talk of a potential Russian strike against the previous Baltic states, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, now all members of the European Union and NATO, as an 'old hoax'.
Russia and the United States possessed the largest arsenals of nuclear warheads after the Cold War that divided the world for much of the 20th century, pitting the West against the Soviet Union and its allies.
President Putin on February 27 ordered Russia's nuclear forces to be on high alert, citing Western sanctions and aggressive statements by leading members of the NATO military alliance. Russian officials later cited British comments about a possible confrontation between NATO and Russia.
Earlier, President Putin said "special military operations" in Ukraine were essential to ensure Russia's security after the United States expanded NATO membership to Russia's borders and supported pro-Western leaders in Kyiv.
Ukraine says it is fighting for its existence with the United States alongside its European and Asian allies condemning the Russian invasion. China has called for calm.
Now that the West has imposed crippling sanctions on Russia, Lavrov said Moscow is turning its back on the West and will deal with the economic consequences.
"We will come out of this crisis with a revitalized psychology and conscience: We will have no illusions that the West can be a reliable partner," Lavrov said.
"We will do everything to ensure that we are never again dependent on the West in areas of our lives that are of great importance to our people," he stressed.
In Moscow, Sergei Chemezov, a close ally of President Putin, also defended Russia's actions in Ukraine, saying that Russia could bear the crippling sanctions imposed by the West and would eventually emerge victorious.
Meanwhile, President Putin, speaking to the government about measures to deal with the impact of sanctions, said Russia would replace imports by developing a stronger domestic market and emerging.
"All of this will lead to an increase in our independence, self-sufficiency, and sovereignty," said President Putin.
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To note, when the Soviet Union collapsed, many in Russia and the West hoped that the break of Cold War had ended.
Asked about energy sanctions imposed by the United States, Foreign Minister Lavrov said Russia would not try to convince any buyer to buy its energy.
In a clear reference to China, the world's second largest economy, Foreign Minister Lavrov said Russia has a market for its oil and gas.
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