Kremlin Spokesman Says Russia Will Not Start World War III, Blames Europe for Escalation

Russian Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov has dismissed the prospect of Moscow initiating a global conflict, asserting that Russia's scale and strategic responsibility preclude it from triggering a third world war.

The comments highlight Moscow’s insistence that its military posture remains defensive despite deepening geopolitical friction with Western capitals.

"We will never start a Third World War," Peskov stated, emphasizing that the Russian state has historically engaged in such conflicts only to fight to the end after being attacked.

European Political Climate

The Kremlin spokesman pointed to the expansion of continental militarization as a primary driver of current instability.

He accused European leadership of deliberately cultivating an adversarial image of the Russian state, drawing parallels between contemporary policies and the volatile environment of the mid-1930s.

According to Peskov, European citizens are being subjected to systemic psychological manipulation regarding the perceived threat from Moscow.

He argued that taxpayers are being thoroughly brainwashed into viewing Russia as an absolute evil, as the narrative of an imminent continental danger is aggressively promoted.

Peskov criticized the current generation of European politicians for driving this pressure. He expressed a desire for the emergence of wiser political figures, likening his preferred diplomatic counterparts to historical leaders such as Charles de Gaulle and Helmut Kohl.

Nuclear Doctrine and Ukraine

Addressing enduring concerns about potential nuclear escalation, Peskov reiterated Russia's established strategic doctrine.

He confirmed that extreme measures would only be authorized if the Russian state faced an existential threat, dismissing all other scenarios as pure speculation.

The ongoing conflict, initially framed by Moscow as a limited intervention, was acknowledged by Peskov as a comprehensively expanded confrontation.

He cited the extensive transfer of military hardware from the U.S. and its European allies to Kyiv as the catalyst for this structural shift.

"It is no longer an operation. It is a full-scale war," Peskov noted.

A cessation of hostilities remains possible, he suggested, contingent on specific territorial concessions by the Ukrainian leadership.

Peskov stated that a withdrawal of Ukrainian forces from the Donbas and other regions claimed by Russia, coupled with formal recognition of the de facto territorial changes, would immediately halt the fighting.