International Shia News Agency

US isolation of Russia, nuclear catastrophe

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association)- Washington’s decision to isolate Russia over the crisis in Ukraine would bear great consequences including the possibility of a nuclear catastrophe, an American research professor says.

In an article published by the New York Times, Siegfried Hecker, a senior fellow in the department of management science and engineering at Stanford University, warned about the recent tensions between the two nuclear powers.

“Moscow is willing to collaborate in science and nuclear energy technologies, but is terminating bilateral security cooperation. Washington wants to continue the latter, but in response to the Ukraine crisis, is isolating Russia from broader scientific and nuclear energy cooperation,” Hecker wrote.

“The combined actions will diminish safety and security, as well as threaten nuclear cooperation in other key areas of common interest, such as countering nuclear terrorism and preventing nuclear proliferation,” he added.

The New York Times reported on Thursday that Russia informed the United States that joint efforts to secure nuclear materials on the Russian territory cannot continue next year.

American officials said Sergey V. Kirienko, the head of Russia’s state nuclear company, has conveyed the message to senior Obama administration officials.

Hecker also called on the US and Russia to collaborate over the nuclear matters.

“In nuclear matters, collaboration is essential, whereas isolation can lead to catastrophes. It is important for both Moscow and Washington to heed this message,” the professor warned.

Relations between Washington and Moscow have been strained over the crisis in Ukraine.

The United States accuses Russia of sending troops into eastern Ukraine in support of the pro-Russian forces, an allegation denied by the Kremlin.

Earlier this month, American philosopher Noam Chomsky said that the escalating tensions between the United States and Russia could spark a nuclear war.

“The worst-case scenario, of course, would be a nuclear war, which would be terrible. Both states that initiate it will be wiped out by the consequences. That’s the worst-case,” he told Russia Today.

“And it’s come ominously close several times in the past, dramatically close. And it could happen again, but not planned, but just by the accidental interactions that take place – that has almost happened,” Chomsky added.

 

 

Source:PressTV

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