Russia warns that Ukraine’s NATO membership would lead to World War III

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Deputy Secretary of the Russian Security Council Alexander Venediktov has warned that Ukraine’s entry into NATO would result in World War III and stressed that the Alliance’s member states “understand the suicidal nature of this step.”

“Kiev is well aware that this step would mean moving to World War III. Apparently, they seek to generate information noise and draw attention to themselves,” Venediktov has said in an interview given to the Russian news agency TASS.

“Given that many members of the Kiev regime are oblivious to reality, I would not be surprised if any of them expected the country to be admitted to NATO,” he said, before adding that Moscow “is aware” that “despite claims of its non-involvement in the events in Ukraine, the actions of Westerners show that they are part of the conflict.”

Thus, he stressed that Ukraine’s entry into NATO “would automatically give a new nuance to the West’s involvement (in the war), given that Article 5 would come into application,” referring to the clause on collective defense in the event of a military attack against one of the Alliance’s members.

Venediktov has emphasized that while some European countries have supported Kiev’s initiative, “the most serious powers and even Brussels have reacted to this initiative without enthusiasm and immediately issued the standard block of arguments about non-compliance with the bloc’s standards and the existence of territorial disputes.” “In any case, Russia’s position remains unchanged. Ukraine’s accession to NATO or any other alliance formed under the auspices of the United States is unacceptable,” he has reiterated.