US may intensify Ukraine conflict during 2024 vote: Russian MP

The US might heighten the raging Ukrainian conflict during its 2024 presidential elections in efforts by both dominant political parties to win votes, says a top Russian legislator, predicting “a terrible if not catastrophic event.”

“If one of the parties feels that it needs to escalate the situation in Ukraine in order to gain more votes in the elections, it will do so,” Deputy Speaker of Russia's Federation Council (upper house of parliament) Konstantin Kosachev said in an interview with a local media outlet as quoted by TASS news agency.

"This is a very dangerous situation, because the Americans are not afraid to use foreign policy in their inter-party rivalry,” he added.

He further predicted that the next US presidential election might develop into “a terrible, if not catastrophic event,” noting that “I can't guarantee that there will be an escalation, but the risk is obvious to me.”

The unpredictability of American behavior will increase and the tail may start wagging the dog again," the senior Russian lawmaker went on to emphasize in response to a question about the impact of the US presidential poll on the raging conflict.

According to Kosachev, further escalation of the military conflict with the use of Heavier types of weapons could increase the likelihood of nuclear use, saying: "Fortunately, we have not yet reached that threshold. However, there is a risk of approaching it."

He also said that in 2022 Washington persuaded Ukraine's President Vladimir Zelensky to pull out of peace talks with Russia, and Kiev has no plans to return to the path of negotiations.

"President Zelensky banned himself and all other Ukrainian authorities from engaging in such talks. This is, of course, a decision made by the United States. They most likely have the ability to reverse their decision. But I have not yet seen such intentions," Kosachev noted.

Kosachev's remarks echoed similar warnings of a nuclear war by former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.

Medvedev warned on Sunday that Moscow would have to use a nuclear weapon if Kiev attempted to take a part of the motherland. Medvedev, who is deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council - a body chaired by Putin - said on social media that to defend the country against foreign aggression the Kremlin would be left with "no other option".

Russia would have to use nuclear weapon if Ukraine succeeded to tear off part of our land: Medvedev

A senior Russian security official says Moscow would have to use a nuclear weapon if Ukraine succeeded to tear off part of the Russian territory in its counteroffensive.

Zelensky, meanwhile, claimed on Sunday that Ukraine's military forces were getting stronger and attacks on Russian territory were an "inevitable, natural and absolutely fair process."

"Today is the 522nd day of the so-called 'Special Military Operation', which the Russian leadership thought would last a couple of weeks," he said in a video address from the western Ukrainian city of Ivano-Frankivsk.

"Gradually, the war is returning to the territory of Russia - to its symbolic centers and military bases, and this is an inevitable, natural and absolutely fair process," he so claimed.

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