Russian defense deputy wants new Cuban Missile Crisis to stop U.S.

A member of Russia’s Parliament has called for a new Cuban Missile Crisis between the United States and Russia to end the country’s bogged-down war against Ukraine.

Duma member Andrei Gurulyov can be seen in a video clip that Newsweek reports has gone viral on Twitter where he speaks in Russian with English captions.

Gurulyov appeared on a Russian state TV program where guests were discussing the war when he suggested the country move its hypersonic missiles within striking distance of the United States.

That, Gurulyov said, would force the Biden administration into negotiations with Russia and stop the United States from supplying Ukraine with weapons to defend itself — just as the Kennedy administration was forced into talks when the Soviet Union moved nuclear missiles into Cuba in October 1962.

“Right now, they’re delivering MLRS [multiple launch rocket systems], howitzers, they’ll deliver anything there, up to a nuclear bomb, just not to let us win,” he said.

Western nations, led by the United States have delivered defensive aid to Ukraine since Russia invaded in late February. Russia expected to overrun the country in mere days as it did the Crimean peninsula and Donbas areas of Ukraine in 2014.

Russia claims the move is a “special military operation” to “denazify” the country.

“Next, they’ll send planes, anti-aircraft systems, then anti-missile systems and so on and so forth, they will not calm down,” Gurulyov said, explaining how Russia could succeed in the “denazification and demilitarization of Ukraine.”

“Any détente happens after a good crisis, like détente that followed the Cuban Missile Crisis,” he said. “Why? Because during the Cuban Missile Crisis, there was a direct threat to the territory of the U.S. to which they had no immediate response.”

Russia should create similar circumstances since “the U.S. is behind all this and others are on their leash,” he said. “We’re ahead of everyone with hypersonic weapons, our hypersonic weapons should be, not only aboard traditional carriers, but brought near to the vicinity of the United States.”

“With a flight time of five minutes, maximum, Biden will keep sitting there and stuttering but the rest will think about how to negotiate,” Gurulyov said, mocking the president’s childhood struggle with his speech impairment.

“That is the only scenario for us to be able to denazify and demilitarize Ukraine,” he said, hinting that Russia wants to end the war through negotiations.

Though Russian forces have been capturing territory in the eastern Donbas lately, he added that in “any war, you can’t always keep winning.”

But journalist Nadana Fridriksson, speaking later, said that an all-out win in Ukraine could allow Russia to invade other countries.

“Those countries in the post-Soviet space that decided to play with Westernness, neutrality, they should understand that they’re next,” she said. “Sooner or later, the Ukrainian campaign will conclude. After Ukraine, another country’s turn will come.”

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The post Russian Defense Deputy Wants New Cuban Missile Crisis to Stop U.S first appeared on The Foreign Desk | by Lisa Daftari.