Russia's Makarov asks - US Wants Nuclear War?

General Nikolai Makarov, the chief of the General Staff of the Russian armed forces, stated today that "I cannot rule out ... local and regional armed conflicts escalating into a large-scale war, possibly even with nuclear weapons." 

Addressing the Russian Public Chamber, a Kremlin advisory body which includes numerous policy heavyweights, Makarov stated that "Russia could be involved in a conflict where weapons of mass destruction could be used... The possibility of local armed conflicts virtually along the entire perimeter of the [Russian] border has grown dramatically."

Makarov was referring specifically to NATO's expansion eastward since the collapse of the Soviet Union -- including efforts to get Ukraine and Georgia to join NATO -- as well as the U.S.-led plan to place missile defense systems along the Russian border. But they are as well an umistakeable policy message in the context of the rapidly escalating crises in Iran, Syria and elsewhere.

The Russian warning is receiving wide coverage in the west, with an AP wire running on the front page of today's {Washington Post}, and the {Drudge} website featuring this story prominently.

The English-language {Russia Today} ran a report on it under the headline "Border Alert: Nuke war risk rising, Russia warns," and RIA Novosti's headline was "Russia Could Be Involved in a Nuclear Conflict."