US, allies on brink of military confrontation with Moscow: Russia

Russia says the United States and its allies are on the brink of an open military conflict with Moscow, as tensions continue to grow between the Kremlin and the West over Ukraine.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova made the remark in a statement on Tuesday, warning that any such confrontation would include nuclear tensions.

"After provoking an escalation of the Ukrainian crisis and unleashing a violent hybrid confrontation with Russia, Washington and its allies are dangerously teetering on the brink of an open military confrontation with our country, which means a direct armed conflict between nuclear powers. Clearly, such a confrontation would be fraught with nuclear escalation," Zakharova said.

Since the onset of Russia's "special military operation" in Ukraine on February 24, the United States and its European allies have unleashed a flood of advanced weapons into Ukraine and imposed waves of unprecedented sanctions on Moscow. Russia says the weapons and the sanctions only prolong the war.

Elsewhere in her remarks, Zakharova slammed Japan's attempts to paint Russia as a nuclear threat, denouncing Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's remarks on the nuclear weapons issue as "perplexing."

"It is unacceptable to try to distort the logic of deterrence, which is what Russia's official statements on nuclear issues are based on, for propaganda reasons, as well as to depict us as a country threatening to use nuclear weapons," she stressed.

"We have taken note of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's recent anti-Russian remarks, including his controversial statements on the nuclear weapons issue. Their focus and tone are puzzling. In particular, in order to justify the move to choose Hiroshima as the host city of a G7 summit, a remark was made that there was no better alternative to the city in a situation where 'Russia's use of nuclear weapons and nuclear threats are becoming a reality,'" she added.

Back in March, Kishida said the prospect of Russia using nuclear weapons was "increasingly real," as he welcomed a visit by the US ambassador to Hiroshima, the first city to suffer a nuclear attack, by the United States. At the time, Kishida announced that the 2023 Group of Seven summit would take place in Hiroshima. Kishida said Russia's war in Ukraine showed the difficulties of creating a world without nuclear weapons.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has not threatened a nuclear attack, but has warned of a quick-fire military response to any other country that intervenes in Moscow's military campaign in Ukraine.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has warned NATO against supplying Ukraine with weapons, saying the US-led military alliance "is engaged in a war with Russia through a proxy." He has also warned that the dangers of a nuclear conflict are now "considerable." 

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