MOSCOW. April 26 (Interfax) - There is a real threat of the outbreak of World War III, which should not be underestimated, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday.
"The threat is serious, it is real, and it should not be underestimated," Lavrov said on the Bolshaya Igra (Big Game) program on the Channel One television channel.
Comparing the current situation with the period of the Caribbean crisis, the minister noted that "then there were few rules in fact, written rules."
"But the rules of conduct were quite clear, and it was clear for Moscow how Washington behaves, and it was clear for Washington how Moscow behaves. And now there are also generally few rules left," Lavrov said, noting that at present the New START Treaty is in effect, but at the same time, "all other instruments of arms control and non-proliferation have been almost destroyed."
At the time of the Caribbean crisis, "there was a channel of communication that the leaders of the Soviet Union and the United States trusted," Lavrov said.
"Now there is no such channel, and no one is trying to create one. Some timid attempts which were made at an early stage did not yield a great result. They involved the fact that already desperate to be heard by NATO all these years, when it has been expanding contrary to promises, when contrary to our warnings they have been pumping weapons into Ukraine, encouraging in every way its Russophobic essence, the essence of the regime that has been established under [fifth Ukrainian President Petro] Poroshenko and is strengthening under [President Volodymyr] Zelensky," Lavrov said.
The minister also said that he would very much not want these risks to be artificially inflated in a situation where the risks are very substantial. "And there are quite a few people willing to do that," Lavrov added.
Speaking about what Moscow is willing to do to prevent the outbreak of World War III, the minister said, "Russia has already been doing a lot and for many years."
"Back under the Trump Administration, we advocated at the top level that Moscow and Washington reaffirm [first Soviet President Mikhail] Gorbachev and [former U.S. President Ronald] Reagan's 1987 statement that there can be no winners in a nuclear war and it should never be unleashed. We persuaded the Trump team to reproduce this very important statement - important for our nations, but also for the world. Unfortunately, we did not manage to convince our colleagues of the need for such a step, but we agreed with the [U.S. President Joe] Biden Administration very quickly, and last June, during the summit in Geneva, our presidents made such a statement," the Russian foreign minister said.
He also noted that the five permanent members of the UN Security Council made a similar statement at the highest level.
"And this is our principled position, we proceed from this," Lavrov said.