Russia Will Use Stronger Weapons If Western Pressure Continues

Sergei Ryabkov. (Twitter/@mfa_russia)

JAKARTA - Russia will use a "stronger military way" in its war with Ukraine if the United States and its allies fail to realize it cannot be tested indefinitely, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Wednesday.

"The risk is high and continues to rise, and it's quite disturbing," he said in an interview with CNN, adding the current geopolitical tensions were never heard even "at the height of the Cold War," as reported December 5.

He further said, "there is no magic solution" to the conflict. He claims there is a lack of common sense and "dependence in the West, especially the US, where people seem to underestimate our determination to maintain the national security interests of our core."

The risk of military escalation should not be underestimated and depends on the decision in Washington, Ryabkov said, citing "the very clear inability of the US Government to truly appreciate Moscow cannot be suppressed indefinitely."

"It will come when we will see no other choice but to use a stronger military method," he said, adding an escalation was unlikely to occur "soon."

"But the trend is there," he said.

Regarding the end of US President Joe Biden's Administration, Ryabkov said Russia would respond to any provocations and "find ways to assert our strong will."

Russia also threatened to attack Ukraine again with the "Oreshnik" nuclear-capable ballistic missile Moscow used in its massive attacks on critical energy infrastructure by the end of November.

Ryabkov said Oreshnik was "not a strategic ballistic missile, but a medium-range missile tested in combat."

Former US President Donald Trump's 2019 decision to withdraw the US from the Medium-Range Nuclear Power Treaty, a decades-old arms control agreement between the US and Russia, paved the way for Moscow to develop its new ballistic arsenal, Ryabkov said.

If it weren't for Trump's decision, "there would be no Oreshnik in our hands and we would be constrained in our ability to develop such weapons," Ryabkov added.