News Feed

Shoigu claims West seeks to expand Russia-Ukraine war to Asia-Pacific region

2 min read
Shoigu claims West seeks to expand Russia-Ukraine war to Asia-Pacific region
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu delivers a speech at the Xiangshan Forum in Beijing on Oct. 30, 2023. (Kyodo News via Getty Images)

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has accused the West of attempting to expand the Russia-Ukraine war to the Asia-Pacific region, the Russian state news agency TASS reported on Oct. 30.

Speaking at the Xiangshan defense forum in Beijing, the minister claimed that NATO countries are increasing their military presence in Asia-Pacific under the cover of an "ostentatious desire for dialogue."

He has praised the relations between Russia and China as "exemplary," adding that Russia will continue to develop its military-technical cooperation with interested countries in the region through equipment supplies and joint exercises.

Shoigu also said that the West is seeking a "strategic defeat of Russia" via its support for Ukraine and that "the Western line of steady escalation of the conflict with Russia carries the threat of a direct military clash between nuclear powers," the Associated Press reported.

Commenting on Moscow's recent decision to withdraw from the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), the minister claimed Russia was not lowering its threshold for the use of nuclear weapons.

The move was only meant "to restore parity with the United States, which has not ratified this treaty," Shoigu said.

The Russian Parliament approved the withdrawal from the CTBT on Oct. 25, a decision followed by an announcement of a large-scale nuclear exercise on the same day.

Bloomberg: China to skip talks on Ukraine peace formula
China’s expected absence from the Malta talks marks a setback in attempts to garner international support for President Volodymyr Zelensky’s peace formula and to sway Beijing away from Moscow.
Article image
Avatar
Martin Fornusek

Senior News Editor

Martin Fornusek is a news editor at the Kyiv Independent. He has previously worked as a news content editor at the media company Newsmatics and is a contributor to Euromaidan Press. He was also volunteering as an editor and translator at the Czech-language version of Ukraïner. Martin studied at Masaryk University in Brno, Czechia, holding a bachelor's degree in security studies and history and a master's degree in conflict and democracy studies.

Read more
News Feed
Show More