Russia hopes its relations with US are not on brink of nuclear conflict — Russian envoy to the US Anatoly Antonov

MOSCOW: Moscow wants to believe that relations with Washington have not degenerated to the point of escalating into a full-fledged nuclear conflict, Russian envoy to the US Anatoly Antonov said on Friday in a video address to participants of the Diplomatic Academy’s international scientific conference devoted to the 60th anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis.

"I would like to believe that despite all the difficulties, we have not approached the dangerous threshold of falling into the abyss of a nuclear conflict with the Americans," he said.

Antonov noted that Russia is committed to the principle that there can be no winners in a nuclear war and "it should never be unleashed."

The diplomat recalled that the US has "torpedoed practically everything that has been created in the field of arms control in recent decades." "The prospects for future agreements on strategic stability remain dim," he stressed.