Ukraine’s foreign minister calls for ‘strong stance’ against Russia’s nuclear rhetoric

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) - Ukraine’s top diplomat urged participants of a meeting of G20 foreign ministers Wednesday to take a “strong stance” against Russia’s nuclear rhetoric.

“I urge everyone present in this room to take a strong stance against Russia’s dangerous and irresponsible rhetoric on nuclear weapons,” Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said in an address to the meeting held in New York on the sidelines of the 79th session of the UN General Assembly.

Noting that Ukraine proposes a “clear path to peace” through the peace formula set out by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during the G20’s 2022 summit held in Indonesia, Sybiha said that in response, they heard “new nuclear threats” from Russia.

“The only reason (Russian President Vladimir) Putin started talking about nuclear weapons is because he wants to scare all of us. But we have proven many times in the past years that fear is not an answer. We should do the opposite,” Sybiha said, adding it is “unacceptable” when a permanent member of the UN Security Council “threatens everyone with nuclear weapons.”

“We should not allow Russia to ruin international peace and security while scaring everyone with nuclear weapons,” he added.

Sybiha said the G20 has a key role in such “times of crisis,” calling for Zelenskyy to be invited to its summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in November.

Kyiv urges the international community to engage and support the implementation of Zelenskyy’s peace formula, he added.

Earlier in the day, Putin announced that a number of proposals were made to update Russia’s nuclear doctrine, including that “aggression” on Moscow by any non-nuclear state with the participation or support of a nuclear country will be deemed a joint attack.

He also said that his country reserves the right to use nuclear weapons should an attack take place on neighboring Belarus.​​​​​​​

Russian authorities have not yet commented on Sybiha's remarks.