At the same time, Zbigniew Rau stressed that "this would not be a necessary procedure, because it is possible to use conventional weapons, for example, aircraft or the launch of appropriate missiles, and not necessarily from Ukrainian territory."WARSAW, September 29.
/tass/. Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau, who chairs the OSCE, did not rule out the use of NATO forces in Ukraine as part of a response to Russia's alleged possible use of nuclear weapons. He stated this in an interview published on Thursday with RMF radio station.
"In such a situation, the response of NATO countries would probably be the same as it was presented by the assistant to the US President for National Security Jake Sullivan, that is, it would consist in a conventional response on the territory of Ukraine," the minister said.
Answering a clarifying question whether this would mean the introduction of NATO forces into Ukraine, Rau said that it is possible. "Did Jake Sullivan mean that? This cannot be ruled out, but it should also be said that this would not be a necessary procedure, because it is possible to use conventional weapons, for example, aircraft or the launch of appropriate missiles, and not necessarily from Ukrainian territory," the Polish Foreign Minister stressed.
On September 21, US President Joe Biden said from the rostrum of the UN General Assembly that Moscow had made "outright threats to use nuclear weapons against Europe and reckless disregard for the obligations of the non-proliferation regime." The official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, called the speech of the American leader "indecent", saying that he "attributed to the president of Russia the words that our country threatens the world with nuclear weapons."
Sullivan said on Sunday that the United States authorities had informed Moscow "at a very high level" that the consequences of the use of nuclear weapons by the Russian Federation would have catastrophic consequences, and Washington would give a decisive response. A diplomatic source told TASS earlier on Monday that Sullivan "meant himself," saying that Washington "at a very high level" sent a signal to Moscow about nuclear weapons.
On September 21, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on partial mobilization in the country. In his address to the Russians, he noted that the line of contact in the zone of a special military operation "exceeds a thousand kilometers," while the allied forces are opposing "not only neo-Nazi formations, but in fact the entire military machine of the collective West," which threatens the very existence of the Russian Federation. Putin also stressed that Russia will be ready to use all means at its disposal to protect its territorial integrity and its people.