Exclusive: Russia Ambassador Exits US With Warning of 'Nuclear Catastrophe'

Russian Ambassador Anatoly Antonov has been officially relieved of his duty after seven years of service.

Antonov spoke with Newsweek about the troubled state of relations between Moscow and Washington .

He railed against what he called a "brutal 'cleansing' of the information space in America " Antonov: "Any voices of reason in Washington today are silenced or written off as ' Kremlin propaganda".

Antonov : U.S. politicians prefer "to listen to 'hawks" rather than seeking peace.

He says Russia 's large-scale war against Ukraine began in February 2022 , but roots of the conflict can be traced back to seismic shifts in global order.

Antonov says the Pentagon has gone so far as "to study the outcomes of using nuclear weapons on the agricultural sector of Eastern Europe , including Russia ".

Antonov left Washington during the most challenging period in the U.S.-Russia relationship since the end of the Cold War .

Antonov: Relations between Moscow and Washington are going through an extremely turbulent period, arguably touching the lowest point in their history.

He saw "only a few" politicians and organizations today that he said, "are trying to look behind the curtain of propaganda clichés".