U.S. delays ICBM test-launch in bid to de-escalate Russia nuclear tensions [View all]
Source: Reuters
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. military said on Wednesday it will postpone a scheduled test launch of a Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile, in a bid to lower soaring tensions after Russia announced it was putting its nuclear forces on high alert.
Russian President Vladimir Putin's weekend announcement on the heightened alert posture fanned fears that Russia's invasion of Ukraine could lead to nuclear escalation, with some European officials seeing it as veiled threat to the West.
Putin's foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, was quoted on Wednesday warning that a Third World War would be a nuclear conflict, remarks that added to growing unease.
The Pentagon strongly condemned Russian rhetoric surrounding the world's most destructive weaponry and said it hoped its decision to delay its ICBM test would serve as an example to Moscow.
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