Official added that NATO is waging hybrid war against Russia.
"NATO has unleashed and is waging a hybrid war against us, in which Ukrainians are the main expendable material. The alliance's countries are supplying the Zelensky regime with increasingly long-range weapons, sending their advisers, participating in planning operations, and providing intelligence data. All this increases the risk of a direct military clash between Russia and NATO," Grushko said in an interview.
Russia takes into account that in the military-technical sense NATO is on the way to increasing the role of nuclear weapons in the alliance's strategy, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister added.
"The fact remains that both in conceptual, political and military-technical senses NATO's nuclear-armed countries, and the bloc itself, which has declared itself nuclear, are on the way to increasing the role of nuclear weapons in the alliance's strategy,” Grushko said.
Russia is updating its nuclear doctrine so that its adversaries have no illusions about Moscow's readiness to ensure security by all means, the minister stressed.
The security situation would look different without without NATO's expansion, Grushko told Sputnik.
"The security situation would look different if it were not for the North Atlantic alliance's desire to pull as many states as possible into its ranks at any cost," Grushko said.
The mythical threat from the East is used by the United States to insert Europe into the world order and maintain American hegemony in the world, the minister said, adding that talks about Kiev's irreversible movement toward NATO membership are necessary to preserve Ukraine as a spearhead in the hybrid war against Russia.
Moscow believes that people in the West are already regretting that NATO rejected the Russian draft treaty on security guarantees, which was transferred to Brussels in December 2021.
Russia and NATO have hotlines, and Russian and US defense ministers maintain a dialogue, but these channels are intended more for emergencies than for finding ways to reduce tensions, official added.
"There are so-called hotlines of communication and opportunities for emergency contacts. Dialogue at the level of Russian and US defense ministers is preserved. Nevertheless, these channels are intended more for emergencies than for finding ways to reduce tensions," Grushko said.