Russia’s War in Ukraine Could Spark Nuclear Catastrophe; Calls for Global Disarmament Grow

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has warned that if a Third World War were to take place, it would be a nuclear war. His comments come just days after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered Russia’s nuclear forces on high alert and after Russian nuclear submarines set sail for tests in waters near Norway. Meanwhile, voters in Belarus have approved a referendum opening the door for Russia to station nuclear weapons in Belarusian territory, and Russia has called on the U.S. to remove its nuclear weapons from European soil.

“We need to acknowledge that nuclear weapons are clearly not a cause of stability in the world, as we’re often told,” says Daniel Högsta, campaign coordinator for the Nobel Peace Prize-winning International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons. “They don’t deter conflicts; they in fact have the potential to exacerbate them.” Högsta also explains the dangers of imposing a no-fly zone in Ukraine despite Russia’s continued threats of using nuclear weapons, which he says amount to a kind of “nuclear blackmail.”

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