Russia says war risk at highest level in decades

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Wednesday that Moscow was in a de-facto open conflict with Washington over the war in Ukraine, and that the risk of a nuclear war was at its highest level in decades.

Relations between Russia and the United States have been strained for a long time since Russia invaded Ukraine last year. Moscow pulled out of the New START nuclear arms reduction treaty with Washington in February.

Speaking at a event called A World Without START: What's Next, Ryabkov said there was no question of Russia restoring the treaty for now, criticising Washington's hostile course towards Moscow.

The Interfax news agency quoted him as saying "I wouldn't want to dive into a discussion about whether or not a nuclear conflict is high today, but it is higher than anything we've had for the past few decades."

Ryabkov said Russia was committed to keeping the world safe and free of nuclear war, but later added that business could not continue as usual because Moscow was now in a de facto state of open conflict with the United States. A year after the invasion of Ukraine, the Kremlin has accused Washington of directly participating in the war and casting it as a battle for Russia's survival.

Both the United States and Russia - the world's largest nuclear powers -- have said that a nuclear war can never be won and must never be fought, but the conflict in Ukraine has raised fears of a direct confrontation with the West.