He emphasized that, speaking earlier about such a development of events, he did not mean that the world is one step away from nuclear war, RIA Novosti reports.
“I said that the risks of such a conflict are now higher than they were before,” the diplomat said.
According to him, the reason is "the irresponsible behavior of the American administration," which "not only in its doctrinal documents begins to allow limited use of nuclear weapons, but also in practical actions."
He explained that we are talking about expanding the arsenal of nuclear weapons.
As Ryabkov pointed out, such "games with the possibility of using nuclear weapons in the conflict are becoming increasingly alarming, if not threatening."
“We have to respond to this,” he added.
Ryabkov previously stated that in the current international situation, there is a risk of a nuclear war.
As noted by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, the American counter-productive approach to arms control could destroy the architecture of strategic stability and lead to a new nuclear missile race.
Expert Igor Korotchenko, commenting on the words of Ryabkov to URA.RU, pointed out that this is due to the fact that negotiations on the extension of the START III Treaty have come to a standstill.