The United Nations warned on Friday of a rising risk of the use of nuclear weapons, during a session of the United Nations Security Council that saw a row between Russia and Western countries after Moscow announced its intention to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus.
During the session convened by Ukraine, the United States and Albania on the Russian declaration, UN Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs Izumi Nakamitsu warned that the risk of using a nuclear weapon is now higher than at any time since the Cold War.
Nakamitsu said all countries should avoid actions that could lead to escalation, mistakes or miscalculations.
For his part, Robert Wood, deputy US representative to the Security Council, said that Russian President Vladimir Putin is escalating Russia's dangerous and destabilizing behavior by threatening to deploy nuclear weapons in Belarus.
Wood added that there were no defensive reasons for Russia to deploy nuclear weapons in Belarus, calling on Moscow to reconsider its intentions.
The Kremlin is trying to manipulate the specter of a nuclear conflict to win what it described as its illegal war in Ukraine, he said, warning that the use of chemical or nuclear weapons in Ukraine would change the nature of the war that has been going on there for more than a year.
France, Britain and Albania also denounced Russia's announcement of its intention to deploy nuclear weapons in Belarus. Albania's Security Council representative told Al Jazeera that Russia was increasing its nuclear tone in an effort to intimidate the West.
Russian representative to the Security Council said that the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus does not violate his country's international obligations (Al Jazeera)
Russia responds
Russian Ambassador to the Security Council Vassily Nebenzia criticized the positions of Western countries on Russia's decision to transfer tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus.
Nebenzia said the move did not violate Russia's international obligations regarding nuclear non-proliferation, adding that the logic of former Western partners was that Russia was "responsible for all the ills of today's world."
During the same session, the Russian delegate reiterated Moscow's justification for the move, referring to NATO's policy of "nuclear sharing", in particular through the deployment of US nuclear weapons in Europe.
For his part, Qing Shuang, China's deputy representative to the Security Council, called for the cancellation of nuclear partnership agreements, stressing that any nuclear state should refrain from deploying nuclear weapons abroad, and withdraw nuclear weapons deployed abroad.
After Russian President Vladimir Putin announced his country's intention to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko confirmed his readiness to receive Russian "strategic" nuclear weapons along with "tactical" weapons, warning that a third world war was on the horizon.