Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev has threatened Washington, Berlin, London and Kiev with nuclear attacks if Russia is forced to retreat from Ukraine.
Medvedev, deputy secretary of the Russian Security Council and a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin wrote on Telegram on Sunday that if Moscow is forced to give up Ukrainian territory it has taken control of, it will “not hesitate” to make a “difficult decision.”
“Attempts to restore Russia’s 1991 borders will lead only to one thing — a global war with Western countries with the use of our entire strategic (nuclear) arsenal against Kiev, Berlin, London, and Washington. And against all other beautiful historic places that have long been included in the flight targets of our nuclear triad,” he wrote.
He added that Russia will have “enough guts” to take action if the country is “on the verge of extinction.”
“It’s better to return everything before it’s too late. Or we will return it ourselves with maximum losses for the enemy. Like in Avdiivka,” he concluded.
Over the weekend, Ukrainian forces were forced to withdraw from the country’s eastern town of Avdiivka after a yearlong battle.
Earlier this month, Medvedev also took to X, formerly Twitter, to criticize NATO allies for their “dangerous babbling” about a potential wider war with Russia.
“The response will be asymmetrical,” he wrote. “To defend our country’s territorial integrity, ballistic and cruise missiles carrying special warheads will be put to use. It is based on our military doctrine documents and is well known to all. And this is exactly that very Apocalypse. The end to everything.”
Russia launched its special military operation in Ukraine in February 2022 to defend the pro-Russian population in the eastern Ukrainian regions of Luhansk and Donetsk against persecution by Kiev, and also to “de-Nazify” its neighbor.
In the same year, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, Luhansk, and Kherson joined the Russian Federation after holding referendums.
Putin said at the time that Kiev and its backers have to respect the will of the people, vowing to defend the Russian land with all means.
The US-led Western alliance has vowed to back Kiev for as long as the war against Russia continues, flooding Ukraine with weapons and munitions, which Russia says will only prolong the war.
In May 2022, Medvedev said that if the West supplied Ukraine with weapons, the move would increase “the likelihood of a direct and open conflict between NATO and Russia.”
